Robert Nemcsics, a former economy minister in the second cabinet of Mikuláš Dzurinda, says he plans to begin collecting the signatures he needs to establish a new political party.
He told the SITA newswire that his campaign would probably commence this Sunday, September 27. To set up a new party in Slovakia requires 10,000 citizens’ signatures. Nemcsics said that about a hundred people who want to start political activities on the civic-liberal platform will meet in Trenčianske Teplice this Sunday. "On Sunday, we will decide whether we will create a new party," he said.
Former defence minister Juraj Liška, who recently deserted the opposition SDKÚ party, is expected to be in Trenčianske Teplice for the meeting. Nemcsics specified that several famous personalities from various spheres of society will also show up. On Sunday, the party’s founders should decide what name they have picked for the new party. Following a dispute with Pavol Rusko, then leader of the now-defunct political party ANO, Nemcsics quit ANO in 2003 but returned in 2006 when Rusko left politics. He hopes that based on old ANO principles, a new party could be established and fill the gap in the right-wing liberal space. Political scientists rate the project’s chances, since they say it is likely to attract the attention of more liberally oriented voters and disillusioned supporters of the current opposition. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
