Lucia Žitňanská, Slovakia’s Justice Minister and vice-chair of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party, told a press conference on February 20 that if she is elected party chair following the March 10 general election, SDKÚ will seek to reclaim public trust, the TASR newswire reported.

Žitňanská stated that she had not consulted with the current party chairman, Mikuláš Dzurinda, in advance about her decision but had informed him just before the party's central council session on February 18.

She told the press conference that she "feels support within the party", as quoted by TASR, adding that she thinks changes in the judiciary, in prosecutors’ offices and the police in Slovakia must be completed. She stated that investigation of various political corruption cases are also part of that objective and that SDKÚ has not given up on scrapping MPs’ criminal immunity. She also said changes in the financing of political parties must be made.

SDKÚ also wants to separate the posts of Supreme Court chairman and Judicial Court chairman which are currently held by Štefan Harabin, a former minister of justice (from 2006 to 2009 as a nominee of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)) who is in his second term as Supreme Court chairman.

"It's a system change that will remove the concentration of power," Žitňanská said at the press conference, adding that "SDKÚ also wants to bring order to political nominations" by defining which positions would be taken by partisan political nominees and which will be filled following ordinary selection procedures, as she said is the case in the judicial branch.

Source: TASR

Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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