Igor Matovič (source: TASR)
OĽaNO head Igor Matovič will not resign as finance minister, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) ministers will leave and SaS will officially become an opposition party.
The government of Eduard Heger will no longer have the majority of votes in the parliament of 150 MPs to rely on.
"The mafia is already getting ready to serve cold champagne. On Monday, the third democratic and anti-corruption government is going to be brought down by SaS," Matovič wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning after an OĽaNO teambuilding session.
SaS leader Richard Sulík filed his resignation as economy minister last week and called on Matovič to leave his ministerial post, too. Otherwise, SaS insists on its ultimatum from early July and its remaining three ministers - Ivan Korčok at foreign affairs, Mária Kolíková at justice, and Branislav Gröhling at education department - will resign, too.
They are expected to file their resignations on Monday afternoon.
The remaining three parties of the ruling coalition, OĽaNO, Sme Rodina, and Za Ľudí, have already been talking about how to divide the four ministries after SaS finally leaves the government.
Who will replace the ministers
Last week and over the weekend, OĽaNO politicians have been calling on Korčok not to leave as foreign affairs minister. Korčok is not an SaS member, but he made it clear he wanted to proceed along with his colleagues.
OĽaNO and Za Ľudí have also been calling on Sulík to withdraw his resignation and stay as economy minister. They blamed him for running away from responsibility ahead of difficult times due to the energy crisis.
According to OĽaNO and Boris Kollár, the new ministers should be independent experts in each area, as is the case of Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský. An OĽaNO nominee, he is a doctor, but not a member of the party.
How ministries will be divided
The strongest coalition party, OĽaNO, held a meeting in Liptovský Ján over the weekend, where the division of ministries among the parties was reportedly discussed as well.
According to the Sme daily, OĽaNO should be assigned the economy and justice ministries, while education should go to Sme Rodina. The smallest coalition party Za Ľudí is to nominate the next foreign affairs minister.
With SaS no longer supporting the coalition in the parliament, the three parties do not have the necessary 76 votes in the house, and will rule as a minority government. After SaS leaves, there will be only 70 coalition MPs.
If the parliament proves unable to pass laws, notably the state budget that should be approved in the autumn, an early election may follow.
