SLOVAK Foreign Minister Eduard Kukan should withdraw his candidacy for the Slovak presidency because of his communist past, the World Association of Former Czechoslovak Political Prisoners told the TASR news wire.
The association also wants to see incumbent President Rudolf Schuster and Movement for a Democratic Slovakia opposition party leader Vladimir Mečiar give up their hopes for the presidency.
The presidential election is due to be held on April 3. Kukan is the leading candidate while Schuster and Mečiar, the former premier who came in second in the 1999 election, are still to announce whether they will stand again.
"As a former senior member of the Communist Party, Eduard Kukan does not have the right to represent a nation whose citizens are committed to Christian values and traditions. A person named Eduard Kukan is included in the list of people who collaborated with the former ŠtB secret police," the open letter says.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
