Cabinet names new regional, district chiefs

The Slovak Cabinet on August 13 agreed on the heads of Slovakia's eight new regions and all but one of its 79 new districts, Slovak media reported. The Cabinet also approved changes to the district boundaries. The new state officials were selected by a special Interior Ministry commission. Meanwhile, ČTK reported that only one of the regional and district heads is not an ethnic Slovak, despite the fact that ethnic Hungarians have a majority in a number of the districts. Nine of the officials were reportedly members of the election team of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) party. Putting the new administration into place, Mečiar attended ceremonies in éilina on August 15, the first of Slovakia's eight new administrative regions to be inaugurated.