Archive of articles - June 2006, page 5

541 Slovaks vote from abroad

Election stats

Smer behind a line of bodyguards

New Roma Generation discovers vote-buying in Roma settlements

In their own words

THOSE who expected Slovakia's political parties to field brand new faces at the top of their candidates lists for the 2006 parliamentary elections were disappointed.Regardless of whether voters approve, politicians such as Mikuláš Dzurinda and Ivan Mikloš of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Vladimír Mečiar of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Smer's Robert Fico and Robert Kaliňák will continue to define the country's political landscape.The Hungarian Coalition Party's (SMK) Béla Bugár, the Christian Democratic Movement's (KDH) Pavol Hrušovský and the Slovak National Party's (SNS) Ján Slota will also continue to set political standards, for better or worse.

Küba sails against the current

ISTANBUL native Kutlung Ataman spent over two years getting to know the inhabitants of Küba, a sadly notorious Instanbul community that lives in a world of its own. The result was a compilation of stories by the political refugees and outsiders that live there into a video installation that won the prestigious Carnegie Prize in 2004. Now the film Küba, which plays in Turkish with English subtitles, is sailing aboard the Negrelli, a converted container barge, as it cruises against the currents of the Danube, navigating Europe's oldest trade route through Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia, with its final stop in Austria.

Foreign trade posts Sk10.6 billion deficit

EVENTS COUNTRYWIDE

Western SLOVAKIACentral SLOVAKIAEastern SLOVAKIA

Artists dedicate works to Tatras

A rocky political ride

NEVER before the second Dzurinda administration has any Slovak government been so reliant on the support of independent MPs. Towards the end of the administration's term, after losing its parliamentary majority, it even faced grave allegations of vote-buying in the legislature.Although no member of the government was prosecuted in relation to the alleged vote-buying affair, media such as the conservative weekly .týždeň charged that the Dzurinda government, especially the prime minister's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party and its co-ruling New Citizen's Alliance (ANO), had hurt the reputation of the reforms they were trying to introduce, and turned politics "into a cynical business".

Jacqueline Bisset to open Art Film Festival

FIRST known for her stunning on-screen beauty, then respected for her talent, actress Jacqueline Bisset will highlight the 14th annual Trenčianske Teplice Art Film Festival, which opens on June 23 in Trenčín's ODA centre. The festival's first showing will be Francois Truffaut's 1973 film Day for Night, in which Bisset starred. The next day, Bisset will collect the Actor's Mission on the Bridge of Fame at 15:30 in the spa town of Trenčianske Teplice.

University theatres meet in Bratislava

Social insurance provider received Sk6 billion

Open house at Presidential Palace

Prosecution of racist leader begins

Ride from campaign turns fatal

FORMER Culture Minister František Tóth, 43, was killed in a car accident just days ahead of the general elections.The accident occurred at a railway crossing in the western Slovak village of Šelpice, in the Trnava region. Tóth was returning from a campaign rally at around 15:00 on June 13 when, according to police, he went through a red light and was hit by a passenger train. He was killed instantly.Tóth's former government colleagues and party peers were reportedly shocked, and expressed their condolences to Tóth's family.

Justice ministry to petition court

Four years that changed the economy

IT WAS perhaps inevitable that Slovakia's wide-ranging economic and social reforms became a major issue in the 2006 election campaign, with the ruling coalition counting the bold changes among their main achievements and the opposition dubbing them "hazardous experiments".Between 2002 and 2006, the Dzurinda government undertook a series of structural reforms designed to improve the business environment.

Summer brings culture to the capital

AS is the summer tradition, expect to find a number of cultural happenings unfolding in the city's parks, buildings and streets as part of the Bratislava Summer of Culture and Old Town Summer Plays festivals.Now in its 31st year, the Summer of Culture was prepared by the Bratislava Culture and Information Centre (BKIS). British musician Sting will open it in grand style on June 21