Each opposition party should submit its own candidate for the post of head of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer) said after meeting opposition representatives on Monday, July 30.
"I offered a proposal to them that each political party should put forward one candidate," said Fico as quoted by the TASR newswire. A kind of competition in parliament would ensue, with the best contestant emerging victorious, he added. The reason for such a proposal lies in the opposition's inability to agree on a joint candidate.
Fico's proposal comes after joint opposition nominee and the only candidate for the post Kamil Krnáč, himself an opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP, received only 53 votes among the 146 MPs present in parliament last week, while 76 votes were needed. This means that, apart from MPs from the governing Smer party, some opposition MPs also said 'no' to Krnáč.
Igor Matovič (opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities-OĽaNO party) says, as quoted by the Sme daily, that Fico’s original promise was different: he promised to accept any candidate proposed jointly by the opposition, and did not say that opposition MPs must all vote for him. The opposition called on Fico to stick to his original promise and support the candidate that was originally agreed upon, i.e. Krnáč.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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