The expulsion of part of the leadership of the Romany Intelligentsia for Coexistence (RIS) political party touched off another round of internal clashes that have bedevilled the RIS for the past several months.
RIS party chairmen and members of the party's national council decided on May 22 to expel members of what they called an illegitimate leadership group at their meeting in the central Slovak town of Zvolen.
The expulsion resolve an impasse that occured earlier this year when two separate RIS party congresses, in Poprad and Zvolen, were summoned independently of each other and elected two separate RIS leaderships.
The latest congress in Zvolen, attended by representatives of 23 RIS factions throughout Slovakia, confirmed Ladislav Fizík in the post of RIS leader. Fizik led the party before conflict broke out earlier this year.
The leadership elected at the disputed congress in Poprad on May 5 (with Tibor Loran andAlexander Patkolo at the top posts) did not attend the meeting in Zvolen.
