The opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party will not propose a new candidate for the post of general prosecutor, nor will it participate in a parliamentary debate over such a person. Moreover, the party plans to boycott any new election, the TASR newswire reported on January 8.

“The SDKÚ caucus views Jozef Čentéš [the general prosecutor-elect rejected by the president] as the only legitimate candidate for general prosecutor, and not even the decision made by President Ivan Gašparovič changes anything about this,” said former justice minister Lucia Žitňanská, who currently leads the party’s parliamentary caucus, as quoted by TASR.

She said that she did not believe that any of the other opposition parties would propose a new candidate.

Žitňanská added that Gašparovič had done the dirty work of the ruling Smer party, thereby paving the way for Smer’s own candidate to take the post.

Pavol Abrhan, an MP for the opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), said that Čentéš has been legitimately elected as general prosecutor, so his party had no reason to participate in any new election for the post, which would only be a farce.

“I hope that the candidates also have enough legal knowledge not to run in such an election, because, I think, they would only disqualify themselves,” he told TASR.

Another opposition leader, Béla Bugár of Most-Híd, commented that Gašparovič had failed utterly in his handling of the whole issue, but his actions came as no surprise. He added that Most-Híd supports the idea of calling an extraordinary parliamentary session at which Gašparovič would be required to explain his reasons for not appointing Čentéš to office.

The party is also advocating an initiative spearheaded by fellow opposition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) to launch a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court against the president over what SaS views as intentional violation of the constitution on the part of the president, TASR wrote.

The president’s spokesperson, Marek Trubač, responded to an agreement among the opposition parties to file a proposal for a criminal prosecution with parliament against Gašparovič for violating the Slovak constitution. He said that it did not make any sense and “has no legal foundation”, TASR wrote.

Trubač added that such a prosecution could only be justified in the case of treason or a deliberate violation of the constitution by Gašparovič. He argued that the president has committed neither of these crimes.

At the beginning of January, Gašparovič cited doubts stemming from the manner in which Čentéš was elected as well as the fact that he shredded testimony submitted by MP Igor Matovič, now head of the opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) party, as his reasons for rejecting him. In 2011 Matovič provided a statement on corruption among political parties to the Office of the General Prosecutor, but the questioning had to be repeated as the original statement was shredded by Čentéš, in his role as a prosecutor. Both Čentéš and Matovič have said that the testimony was shredded by mistake, TASR reported.

Source: TASR

For more information about this story please see: People’s Platform will discuss impeachment of Gašparovič

Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.