MP Igor Matovič was expelled from the coalition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) caucus on Thursday, February 10, SaS leader and Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulík announced.
Matovič, who leads the four-member Ordinary People faction within the SaS caucus, thereby becomes the second independent lawmaker to leave the coalition, following Andrej Ďurkovský, who left the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) in late January.
Matovič was ejected from the SaS caucus for joining the opposition in a debate on Thursday on the State Citizenship Act, and then supporting the opposition Smer party's proposed amendment to the act, which resulted in the coalition having to withdraw its own amendment.
Matovič made a deal with his three colleagues from Ordinary People: he voted for the Smer amendment, another voted against it and the remaining two abstained from the vote. The latter three were not ejected from the SaS caucus.
Matovič told the TASR newswire that he was kicked out of the caucus after he voted in line with his convictions and even stuck to his end of the deal with the rest of the coalition. "The deal was that the coalition wouldn't press us into voting against our convictions," he explained. According to Matovič, the plan was that the coalition would vote down Smer's proposal even if Matovič voted for it. "Embarrassing ... hypocritical ... I just can't describe it," commented Matovič on the caucus's decision to fire him. Matovič said he would continue to vote according to his own conscience and convictions in parliament.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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