Parliament dismisses Michal Simecka from House vice-chair post

Opposition PS party leader Michal Simecka is no longer a House vice-chair, as Parliament dismissed him from the post in a secret ballot on Tuesday.

Seventy-seven MPs were present for the vote, with one ballot paper being declared invalid. Seventy-six MPs voted for Simecka's dismissal, nobody was against and nobody refrained from voting.   MPs for the opposition PS, SaS, KDH and 'Slovensko' parties said in advance that they wouldn't take part in the vote.

In reaction to his removal, Simecka sent a message to Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stating that he could dismiss him as House vice-chair, but not remove him as the opposition leader.

"I'm looking forward to defeating you in an election. Now I have a couple of hours per day more time for that," said the PS chairman. At the same time, he pointed to problems that the government isn't addressing. "So they've ousted me. All the problems of Slovakia have been resolved by that. Food prices will go down, teachers and nurses will have higher salaries, our children will stop running off abroad, you'll be able to get to Kosice by highway, and even the water from the cellars will pump itself out," he said.

Opposition's KDH perceives Simecka’s ouster from the post of House Vice-chair as the trampling of democracy and underlined that the post should belong to the strongest opposition party, leader of KDH Milan Majersky declared on Tuesday.

"This isn't about Michal Simecka, this is about something else altogether. It's about the trampling of democracy, the trampling of democratic rules that have been in place here for 34 years and that's what we don't like," said Majersky.

The coalition should respect the agreement on the distribution of posts in Parliament, opposition SaS leader Branislav Groehling stated in regards to the vote on deputy speaker of parliament.

"The coalition cannot vet opposition lawmakers and choose who will have what post. That's absolutely unacceptable. There are some rules, some distribution of committee posts and as part of that process, the coalition has no business vetting people," warned Groehling.

Groehling added that the opposition will undertake the next course of action jointly. "This spot belongs to PS and it will be up to PS to table some approach - whether it be a potential future nomination or non-nomination," he claimed.

Two MPs for the governing Hlas-SD party, Samuel Migal and Radomir Salitros, didn't take part in the vote on Simecka's dismissal.

Migal said he doesn't care who sits in the opposition's post of House vice-chair, but he thinks that this issue is unnecessarily polarising society. He said that he didn't want to defend Simecka with his decision, but he thinks that there are more important issues to be addressed. He didn't want to comment on his colleagues in the coalition, simply saying he can see politicking behind it that needlessly polarises society.

The opposition is free to propose a different candidate for the post of House Vice-chair, who will be subsequently elected by the coalition, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) declared at a press conference after the coalition ousted Simecka from the House Vice-chair post on Tuesday.

According to Fico, the coalition respects the opposition's right to one of the House vice-chair posts. He considers the dismissal of Simecka to be the right thing, however, and added that the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) will be asked to investigate the granting of subsidies to organisations of Simecka's relatives.

"I trust that this is a clear message that we won't respect false politicians, false people, whose mouths are full of democracy and the rule of law, but who act non-democratically in their own house and go against the rule of law," claimed Fico. In his view, the case is closed and all that remains is the finishing touch in the form of the NKU's investigation.

A special session on Simecka's dismissal, initiated by Smer-SD and SNS MPs, was held last week. The main stated reasons for the move was the use of state subsidies by people close to the PS chief and suspicions of manipulation in the allocation of subsidies. Coalition representatives also accused Simecka of organising protests against the leadership of the Culture and Justice Ministries, from which, they alleged, Simecka's family is losing its financial backing.

Simecka rejected the criticism, viewing the proposal as revenge for his carrying out his opposition job well.

Source: TASR