ANOTHER parliamentary vote for the chairman of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) has failed. The election scheduled for May 28 did not take place after representatives of the People’s Platform withdrew their candidate.
The three opposition parties grouped within the platform proposed their candidate, Maroš Žilinka, with the demand that the election would be held by a public vote (as opposed to a secret one). The ruling Smer party however refused this request, and the vote was therefore to be held as a secret ballot.
The platform parties then withdrew their candidate in protest.
Žilinka, who in the past has been featured on the slate of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), is a prosecutor at the Special Prosecutor’s Office and formerly served as state secretary at the Interior Ministry.
“Maroš Žilinka meets all the criteria and prerequisites to hold the office of NKÚ chairman in a responsible and competent manner,” KDH leader Ján Figeľ told Smer MPs in parliament, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “Following four unsuccessful rounds of secret balloting, it was justified that we logically and with honest intentions proposed a public vote. You reject a quality candidate, [you] also reject a public vote, which means you reject efficient supervision of the public administration governance.”
3. Jun 2013 at 0:00 | Compiled by Spectator staff