Political newcomer Andrej Kiska has been inaugurated as Slovakia's new president.
The successful 51-year-old businessman-turned-philanthropist was elected to the largely ceremonial post in March, handing an embarrassing defeat to major rival, leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Taking the presidential oath on Sunday at an extraordinary session of parliament, Kiska became Slovakia's fourth president since the country gained independence after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
He succeeds Ivan Gasparovic, the only president since independence to win two five-year terms.
Kiska was until recently a relative unknown in Slovakia and attracted voters fed up with corruption and politics-as-usual to beat Fico.
As prime minister, Fico remains Slovakia's most powerful politician but will have to deal with a president who is more critical than Gasparovic was.
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