MPs will vote again on Tuesday, December 7, as part of the second attempt to select Slovakia's next prosecutor general, coalition leaders agreed at an afternoon meeting on Thursday, December 2. The announcement followed the inconclusive outcome of a parliamentary vote to choose between two candidates earlier on Thursday.
All votes to select the general prosecutor have so far been secret, but it appears that some in the coalition are now determined to make the deciding vote public. According to Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) chairman Mikuláš Dzurinda, the re-run secret vote on Tuesday will not produce a winner. "Coalition MPs will make sure that no-one gets elected. In the days ahead we'll come to an agreement on a new election," Dzurinda said, as reported by the TASR newswire. "Speaking for the SDKÚ, I want to say that we'll promote the idea that the election rules be changed in order to make the general prosecutor election take place in a recorded vote," he explained.
Dzurinda insisted that none of the SDKÚ lawmakers in the unsuccessful vote on Thursday broke the coalition deal and that all of them had voted for coalition nominee Jozef Čentéš. Dzurinda also said that his party is happy with Čentéš being the nominee of all four coalition parties.
In Thursday's secret vote in parliament the incumbent general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka, who was nominated by an opposition MP, received 74 votes out of 149 MPs present, while the coalition parties' nominee Jozef Čentéš got 73 votes. Two ballots were spoiled. With 70 (out of a maximum 71) opposition MPs present, the result meant that at least four coalition MPs must have voted for Trnka. Neither candidate received the support of a simple majority of all MPs present, the threshold for selection.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
3. Dec 2010 at 10:00
