Representatives of the Romany Intelligentsia for Coexistence (RIS) and the Romany Civil Initiative (ROI) met in the central Slovak town of Zvolen on November 28 to discuss ways of uniting Slovak Romanies, as well as cooperation after municipal elections set for December 19.
Both groups agreed to support the Romany candidates running in local elections without reference to their party affiliation. RIS Chair Ladislav Fizik and ROI Secretary Michal Kassa said that in villages where both parties field a candidate, the one with smaller chances of winning will withdraw their candidacy.
The ultimate aim of the discussions was the creation of one strong national Romany political party that might eventually win the 5% of votes needed to enter federal parliament as a party. Romanies have so far fielded municipal candidates in four villages.
7. Dec 1998 at 0:00 | From press reports of TASR and SITA
