The past mayor of Bratislava, Andre Ďurkovský, who left that office at the end of 2010 is now leaving the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and will become a non-partisan MP, the SITA newswire reported, adding that Ďurkovský has pledged to continue to support the governing coalition in parliament.
Ďurkovský is the first parliamentary deputy during this election term to leave his parliamentary caucus and become independent. The four parties of the governing coalition now have 78 deputies in the 150-seat parliament.
Ďurkovský decided to quit KDH in order “not to harm the KDH” following six hours of marathon talks with party leaders. He said, however, that he expects to return to the KDH after the questions that have been tagged on him are clarified. He said that one member of the KDH leadership urged him to return his parliamentary mandate to the party while another party leader appealed to him not to quit the party, SITA reported.
The former mayor of Bratislava met with his party’s leadership to explain his actions as Bratislava mayor involving the water utility service in the Slovak capital (BVS) and the city’s Culture and Leisure Park (PKO). He said that some information that has appeared in the media is not true, adding that there was no hidden privatization within BVS and that he did not sign anything regarding the PKO before last November’s municipal election.
Ďurkovský was elected to the Slovak parliament in June 2010 on the KDH slate. KDH chairman Ján Figeľ said that he believes the former mayor acted based on his information, competencies and conscience, adding that KDH did not interfere in actions by self-governments even though these issues are sometimes purposively linked to the KDH.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports
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