The ruling party Ordinary People and Independent Personalities have kicked out two MPs after the May 4 vote, which saw the house reject the prosecutor’s request for the arrest of former prime minister Robert Fico and pre-trial custody proceedings.
The vote on Fico
Of the 150 MPs present, 74 voted to allow Fico’s arrest, 49 were against.
- SaS party, Za Ľudí, most of OĽaNO and two unaffiliated MPs were in favour
- Tabák (OĽaNO) did not vote
- Hatráková (OĽaNO) and Sme Rodina abstained
- Smer, Hlas, Republika were against
- ĽSNS MPs did not vote
All 150 MPs were present in the house for the vote, a rare occurrence. To approve the prosecutor’s request, 76 votes were needed. In the end, 74 voted to give the green light to the prosecutor to request pre-trial custody for Fico. Two OĽaNO MPs and the entire Sme Rodina caucus abstained from the vote.
Smer chair Robert Fico faced a pre-trial custody request after he was charged, along with his former right-hand man who served as interior minister under Smer governments, Robert Kaliňák, with establishing a criminal group, and endangering trade secrecy, bank secrecy, secrecy of correspondence, telecommunications secrecy and tax secrecy.
Kaliňák is currently in pre-trial custody, but Fico is an MP and could not be arrested unless his fellow MPs voted to allow it.
Straight after the vote, Fico shook hands with right-wing extremist Marian Kotleba (ĽSNS) and his former right hand politician Peter Pellegrini (Hlas) in a victory gesture. It is believed that Fico’s triumph will be the final blow for ex-PM, current Finance minister and OĽaNO chair Igor Matovič, his political rival.
Unexpected supporters in OĽaNO
