Slovakia

Many people see February 29 as a leap day, but it plays a much more important role in the history of the Slovaks and the Czechs. Their first democratic Constitution was adopted exactly 100 years ago.

The 1920 Constitution was the first legally binding document that incorporated the democratic principles established by Czechoslovakia. The document granted, for instance, the right to vote to all women and to all men.

Slovakia is walking on the right path when it comes to women’s empowerment. But the country still lags, even behind its closest neighbours.

When Slovakia's newly elected President Zuzana Caputova -- the country's first ever female head of state -- delivered her acceptance speech on Saturday she immediately set herself apart from the wave of populist parties sweeping Europe.

The 45-year-old liberal lawyer thanked voters not just in Slovak -- but in Hungarian, Czech, Roma and Ruthenian -- in a show of unity with the nation's minority groups and rejection of the nationalist rhetoric popular in some neighboring countries.

Government critic Zuzana Caputova secured a huge first-round win over the ruling party candidate in Slovakia's weekend election, putting her one step closer to becoming the country's first female president.

Official results showed Caputova securing more than twice the votes of her rival Maros Sefcovic, suggesting the electorate had shunned the political establishment following last year's shock murder of an investigative journalist probing corruption.