After failing to secure the needed 76 votes in parliament needed to form a new government, acting Prime Minister has conceded that snap elections need to be held. He will begin discussions about the term of the snap elections on Wednesday January 18.
Sme Rodina is willing to support a September date for a snap election, but still prefers the election to be held in June, party leader and Parliamentary Chair Boris Kollar said on Tuesday, adding there's a need to find a compromise. "Sme Rodina supports the June date for the election to lead the country out [of the crisis] and to finally make a way for a government that would have full powers and the trust of citizens. However, we are willing to accede to a compromise that it might be September, if majority partners manage to agree [on that]," stated Kollar.
Za Ludi won't support a snap election. "We won't vote for a snap election as a gift to [Smer-SD leader Robert] Fico and the extremist parties. “Let those who have been nourishing chaos, quarrels and constant conflict for three years to be accountable for it," stated party chair Veronika Remisova.
Opposition SaS said on Tuesday the party views seeking a majority as a waste of time and sees a compromise solution in holding a snap election in September. "We're rejecting a discussion on a new majority. This is the clear stance of the SaS caucus. We were ready to negotiate, but we still don't know who the actual leader of OLaNO is. Moreover, there's still a threat that Eduard Heger will quit OLaNO and will have neither the power, nor the legitimacy to form a new government with any other party," stated SaS leader Richard Sulik.
The extra-parliamentary Hlas-SD party demands that a snap general election be held in the first half of the year, as it sees no reason for it to take place as late as in September. "Hlas-SD has been claiming for a long time that a snap election is the only possible way out of the deep political crisis in Slovakia. The sooner it takes place, the better for the people of Slovakia," reads the party's statement provided to TASR by its spokesperson Patricia Medved Macikova.
According to Smer-SD chair Robert Fico, the early election should be held in June at the very latest. Despite their Tuesday declarations, the former coalition parties don't really wish to see the snap election take place, which means that the only way to bring the country to the early election is via the referendum on Saturday (January 21), Fico stated at a press conference on Tuesday. "Seeing as we're familiar with members of the broken government, we know that there won't be any amendment to the Constitution that would enable the early parliamentary election," thinks Fico, who believes that the situation is more likely to develop into the handing of power over to the President, the forming of her caretaker government and the preservation of the chaos until the 2024 regular election.
"With its quarrels and amateurism, the incumbent government has buried the hopes of the millions who voted for change three years ago," said Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka. He is convinced that having the snap election in the first half of the year would be better than the September date, as the earlier date would shorten the agony of the current misgovernance and prevent further rise in popularity of the extremists.
This sentiment was echoed also by ethnic-Hungarian Alliance. "Even though the unrealistic pursuit of a new parliamentary majority has cost Slovakia precious time, what's important now is for the chairs of the parliamentary parties to realise that they won't escape the snap election and call for them in the earliest time possible," stated the Alliance, which called on lawmakers to steer the country to the early election in a dignified fashion.
The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) signaled its readiness to offer quality solutions and act as a calming and values-based actor in Slovak politics.
The Slovak National Party (SNS) welcomed the news of the preparation for the early election. "By opening the discussion on the date of the early election, the government conceded to its voters that it has failed to handle its role," believes the SNS party, which is also in favour of having the election in June.
