Zuzana Čaputová

Zuzana Strapáková was born into a working-class family in Bratislava.[3][4] She grew up in the nearby town of Pezinok,[4] in what was Czechoslovakia for the first two decades of her life. She has described her upbringing as having occurred within "an open-minded house".[3]

She studied at the Comenius University Faculty of Law in Bratislava,[4] graduating in 1996.[5] Between 1998 and 1999 she completed the training cycle "General Management – Management of Change" and in 1999 the ARK – Mediation course, accredited by the Ministry of Education of Slovakia.[6]

After concluding her education, Čaputová worked in the local government of Pezinok, first as an assistant in the legal department, and later as a deputy to the town mayor.[7]

She later moved into the non-profit sector at the Open Society Foundations, where she handled public administration and the issue of abused and exploited children. Subsequently, she worked as a project manager at the civic association EQ Klub on local community development.[8]

Between 2001 and 2017, Čaputová worked with Via Iuris, a civic organization, as a lawyer (since 2010),[7] and with Greenpeace on campaign planning.[9] In Pezinok, for more than ten years, she was at the forefront of a public campaign against the authorization of another landfill that would aggravate pollution of the soil, air, and water in the city and its surrounding areas. The fight against the landfill culminated in 2013, when the Supreme Court of Slovakia ruled that the new landfill was illegal and violated environmental norms.[10]

Čaputová has run her own law firm and authored and co-authored several publications. She is a fellow of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), a network of environmental lawyers and jurists.[11]

Čaputová speaking to reporters, 2019

In December 2017, Čaputová announced her entry into the emerging political party Progressive Slovakia, and in January 2018, she was elected as a Vice-Chairwoman at the party's first congress, aiding Ivan Štefunko's efforts to assure the representation of a credible socially-liberal alternative to the conservative status quo in Slovakia.

As a co-founding member[12] of Progressive Slovakia, a non-parliamentary socially liberal and progressive party, she served as its Deputy Chair until March 2019, when she resigned due to her presidential candidacy.[13] Čaputová was the party's candidate in the 2019 Slovak presidential election[14] and proceeded to be elected president in the second round, after receiving over 58% of the vote and beating her opponent Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič, an independent who was supported by the long-dominant Smer–SD party.[15]

Čaputová and Robert Mistrík, initially a front-runner who withdrew from the race and endorsed her.

In a press conference held on 29 March 2018, Čaputová announced her bid for the Slovak presidency in the 2019 presidential race as the candidate of Progressive Slovakia. Robert Mistrík, another strong contender, withdrew from the race and endorsed her on 26 February 2019.[16] She said she had felt compelled to run for the Presidency after the murder of the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak.[17][18][19]

Čaputová won the first round of the election on 16 March 2019, with 40.57% of the vote. She then defeated her second-place opponent, Maroš Šefčovič, by around 58% to 42% in the second run-off round on 30 March 2019.[20] The second-round turnout of just 41.79% was the lowest for any round of voting in that type of election in Slovakia. The number of votes with which Čaputová was elected to office was also the lowest for any directly elected Slovak president to date.[21] Her presidential inauguration took place on 15 June 2019 during a special session of the National Council in Bratislava.[22]

She was rated as the most trusted politician in the country in both 2020[23] and 2021,[24] with 83% and 58% of citizens polled saying they saw her as trustworthy, respectively. A December 2019 poll in the neighboring Czech Republic showed that she had a higher approval rating there (54% approval, 18% disapproval) than incumbent President Miloš Zeman (46% approval, 50% disapproval).[25]

However, Čaputová's popularity has been declining. A poll in late May 2022 reported that only 15% of voters would "certainly" vote her in the upcoming presidential election, which is scheduled for April 2024.[26]

Čaputová is divorced and has two daughters.[2] She practices Zen yoga.[3] She still lives in Pezinok.[2]

Čaputová (third from the left) with the other 2016 winners of the Goldman Prize, along with the current U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

For her strong and resolute leadership regarding the Pezinok landfill affair, Čaputová was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2016.[33] Laureates of this prize are selected by an international jury and experts from around the world who have distinguished themselves for having a lasting and significant impact on environmental protection. The Goldman award was delivered to Čaputová in San Francisco. Her long and eventually triumphant struggle has been compared to that of the American Erin Brockovich.[14] The text of the prize states that she was awarded for her "relentless campaigning against the opening of a landfill in the town of Pezinok, which, if opened, would further aggravate potential health hazards and would contribute to urban pollution".[34] In recognition of her efforts for the European democracy, Čaputová was awarded the European Prize for Political Culture in August 2019.[35]

In 2020, she was ranked No. 83 in Forbes's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[36] In 2021, she was ranked at No. 86.[37]

• List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government
• List of international trips made by Zuzana Čaputová

• Official website