The ball is in Prime Minister Igor Matovič's (OLaNO) court and he must decide whether he's willing to resign in order to allow reasonable governance of the country to continue - and if he won't do so, the Freedom and Solidarity party will leave the government, party leader Richard Sulík declared following his meeting with President Zuzana Caputova on Tuesday.
Freedom and Solidarity has given Matovič a deadline of Wednesday, March 24, to decide. If Matovič declares ahead of the deadline that he won't resign, the party will leave the government immediately. "We won't serve under Matovič in the government because that makes us co-responsible for the catastrophic way the government is run," claimed Sulik, adding that he had requested a meeting with lawmakers of the OLaNO caucus.
Meanwhile, another coalition party, For the People, is also considering quitting the government if Matovič doesn't resign. "Our position was unanimous following the meeting of the party presidium, which is a change in the prime ministerial post. Nothing will change about this demand, so it's highly likely that not only our caucus, but the whole party would quit the governing coalition," said For the People leader and Vice-premier Veronika Remišová on Tuesday.
The government of Igor Matovič has been embroiled in a crisis over the circumstances surrounding the purchase of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine earlier in the month, although tensions within the coalition go back much earlier. They have been fed by disputes between Prime Minister Igor Matovič and Freedom and Solidarity party leader and Economy Minister Richard Sulík.
