Political analyst Miroslav Kusý said on November 28 that ĽS-HZDS chairman Vladimír Mečiar's threat of an early departure from the Coalition Council was just one of his maneuvers. According to Kusý, this is not likely to lead to the Coalition’s split.
"Leaving the Government Coalition now would be political suicide for the ĽS-HZDS,” Kusý said. “If they wanted to leave, they should have done it at the beginning."
Political analyst Rastislav Tóth said that if the Coalition fell apart now, it would mean that Mečiar had sided with the Opposition. He, too, said he didn't think that the Coalition would split. If the Coalition fell apart and an early election was held, it would mean the break-up of the LS-HZDS, Tóth said.
According to political analyst Samuel Abrahám, Fico's requirement to repeal Mečiar's amnesties is a fundamental twist in the whole situation, and it means a definite rupture between Fico and Mečiar.
"Mečiar's amnesties (granted while he was interim president in 1998 to everyone involved in the kidnapping of the former president's son, Michal Kováč) represent the biggest cloud over the Slovak political scene after 1989," said Abrahám. This means that Fico will have to co-operate with the opposition, which can't afford not to vote for their repeal.
Abrahám added that it was up to people and media to follow closely whether Fico really followed through on this. The issue of early election isn't important at the moment, because a new stage in Slovak politics has just emerged, said Abraham.
Political analyst Grigorij Mesežnikov said that the situation in the Government Coalition was serious, but not to such an extent that the ĽS-HZDS would leave the coalition. The reason is that by splitting the current Government, Mečiar's party would lose more than Fico's Smer-SD party. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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