Parties trying to rally ahead of general election

Parties trying to rally ahead of general election

Last week brought numerous steps and moves on the Slovak political map ahead of the parliamentary election set to take place in March 2020. After the parliament and the coalition failed to elect enough candidates for Constitutional Judges for the seventh time, the chair of the junior governing Slovak National Party Andrej Danko did not refuse an early parliamentary election. Nevertheless, on Saturday Juraj Blanár, vice-chair of the largest governing Smer-SD party stated that, according to him, an early election is not a real option as the coalition is operating. However, he admitted that reaching a consensus can be sometimes difficult.

Running in a coalition or independently is a question for some Slovak parties. The coalition Progressive Slovakia - Together, announced that it would continue in cooperation even for the general election right after its victory in the European Parliament election.

On June 17, the former President Andrej Kiska announced the foundation of his new party For People and called for cooperation. Nevertheless, the call has so far remained unanswered. On Saturday June 22, four parties held congresses. The opposition non-parliamentary Christian Democratic Movement announced that it would run as an independent party. On the same day, the chair of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity party Richard Sulík offered his post as well as the first position on the party's slate to the unsuccessful presidential candidate Robert Mistrík, who turned the offer down due to personal reasons. This spring, Mistrík left the presidential election in favour of Zuzana Čaputová, who eventually won. Also on June 22, the junior governing Slovak National Party elected the current Agriculture Minister Gabriela Matečná to the post of the party's vice chair.

On the same day, Béla Bugár, chair of the junior governing Most-Híd party offered once again that he would step down from his post and the offer was refused again. At the same time, the party signaled that it wants to co-operate with subjects supporting regions and not only parties focusing on minorities offering positions on its slate to those parties who can co-operate with it. Bugár noted that there is a chance that minorities will not be represented in Parliament after the 2020 general election.

Earlier this month, the opposition Ordinary People party invited any Christian personalities to join them in the election. The offer included more than half of its slate and half of the money which the party will receive based on the results of the election. Later in the month, the party lost five of its MPs.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini of the largest governing Smer-SD refused that he had not vied for any EU post and believes his purpose is in Slovakia. He also said that he never aimed to be chair of the Smer-SD party. Its chair and leader for parliamentary election has been Robert Fico since 1999 and, as announced recently, it will not change even before the upcoming general election in 2020.

Mojmir Prochazka, Photo: TASR

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