Václav Mika of RTVS (source: Sme)
Václav Mika, former head of the public-service broadcaster RTVS, has announced his plan to run for the position of Mayor of Bratislava. He intends to finance the campaign out of his own pocket and he has also opened a transparent account, as reported by the Sme daily. He allegedly wants to reject sponsors who had or have deals with the city or city companies.
Mika, who announced his candidacy during the weekend of June 2, has also declared that he will run as an independent candidate without political support. The Ex-CEO of RTVS said that he has started collecting signatures to support his bid. He is convinced that the right time has come for him to pay his respects to the people of Bratislava for all the opportunities he has had in the city.
“I know that I want to work directly for the people along with the best professionals who feel the same way,” Mika told the press conference June 3, as cited by the TASR newswire. “I want to address the problems of the people of Bratislava.”
Vajnory Mayor also throws his hat into the ring
Another potential mayor for the capital is the mayor of the Bratislava borough of Vajnory, Ján Mrva, who failed in the race for Bratislava Region's governor last year.
The opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Sme Rodina (We Are Family) parties will endorse the candidacy of Mrva for the post of Bratislava mayor in this year’s municipal elections, representatives of the parties announced at a press conference on June 1.
The opposition sought a good and honest candidate who has experience with local politics and would be a good choice for the modern cosmopolitan Bratislava, OĽaNO leader Igor Matovič claimed.
“We were seeking a candidate not linked with any scandals,” he explained, as cited by TASR. “We also wanted someone completely detached from financial groups. So, we chose Ján Mrva.”
Mrva wants Bratislava to be a safe city
SaS chair, Richard Sulík, conceded that Mrva is not “much of a liberal”, although the most important aspect at the municipal level is to have a well-governed city and no instances of corruption or land racketeering. Sme Rodina leader Boris Kollár stated that the party chose to endorse a candidate who is decent, transparent, untarnished by corruption and without the backing of financial groups.
“That’s why we opted to support Mr. Mrva – because he certainly is such a candidate,” Kollár added.
The opposition candidate declared that he has drafted measures for Bratislava which he finds bedevilled most by inefficient transport.
“To tackle this, we’d like to build park and ride car-parks on the outskirts of the city, build connection points for integrated transport and extend the tramlines,” Mrva noted. “Furthermore, we’d like to restore a project aimed at building a short shallow metro between the Old Bridge and Filiálka railway station, beneath Karadžičova Street and Dostojevského Rad."
Mrva wants Bratislava to be a safe, secure, clean, well-governed, cultural, modern city that shows solidarity with the disadvantaged, he added.
A lady to run for capital’s mayor
The non-parliamentary Christian-Democratic Movement (KDH) has decided to give their support to economist Caroline Líšková for this post.
“Unfortunately, the SaS and OĽaNO have decided on an agreement with Sme Rodina, not with us,” the KDH wrote in a statement. “To prefer an agreement with Sme Rodina, a party that didn’t acquire a single councillor in the recent regional elections in Slovakia, to an agreement with the KDH, basically can’t be justified rationally but we expected that someone would try to do so.”
Political and partisan interests have won over the needs of Slovakia and Bratislava, the party added.
“Caroline’s candidacy will put the spotlight on us,” the KDH announced. “It will show who and what we really are. It will perhaps reveal the hardness and falseness of the so-called Bratislava café society. The hardness and ruthlessness of some political parties have already been revealed, unfortunately.”
Caroline Líškova is to present her candidacy on June 4.
Other potential contenders
Another official candidate is architect, activist and musician (of the Para band) Matúš Vallo who has already kicked off his campaign on social networks, Sme wrote.
The high number of candidates could play into the hands of the incumbent Ivo Nesrovnal whom the public knows best, TASR wrote, adding that according to the grapevine, he will run for re-election. However, he has not yet commented officially on his possible run.
