Slovakian regional, mayoral elections back the status quo

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The results of the regional and local elections in Slovakia have shown the voters didn’t use the ballot to punish the coalition government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger for high inflation driven by soaring energy prices. In the vote for the heads of the country’s eight regions, six of them were re-elected to their posts, according to results released by the Slovak Statistics Office. In a separate local election, only one of the eight biggest cities will have a new mayor — because the previous one didn’t seek re-election. President Zuzana Caputova has welcomed the results.