Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) leader Richard Sulík became the new Speaker of Parliament in a repeated secret ballot on Thursday, July 8, replacing Pavol Paška (Smer) in the post, the TASR newswire reported. In the second vote, 80 out of the 149 MPs present cast their votes in favour of Sulík. At least 76 votes are needed for a candidate to acquire the post.
After the vote, Paška immediately handed the reins to Sulík. The support of 80 lawmakers means that Sulík gained at least one vote from an opposition party. The SaS chairman became the 21st parliamentary chairman in Slovak history since 1848, and the fifth in the country's modern 18-year history.
Opposition Smer candidate Miroslav Číž did not succeed in his bid for the post, receiving only 62 votes, TASR wrote. There are 62 Smer MPs.
In his short, first address to the parliament after being elected to the second highest constitutional post in Slovakia's political system, Sulík called for maintaining cultivated manners in parliament.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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