Three-time Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar terminated his membership in the Movement for Democratic Slovakia-HZDS on December 12 – a party he founded and chaired since 1991.
“A so-called collective leadership is steering the party toward bankruptcy and liquidation behind the backs of its members. Contrary to the resolutions passed by the party Congress, they’re planning to found a new party,” Mečiar told the TASR newswire on December 12. “They lie to the public, lie to members and I just can't function in such an organisation anymore.”
The party is currently led by the “gremium”, a supposedly temporary arrangement until the replacement for Mečiar is found. The search has been taking place since 2012, when Mečiar chose to step down as the party chair after HZDS failed to get into parliament in two consecutive elections (2010 and 2012).
Mečiar founded the party in 1991, was then three times a prime minister (the last term in 1994-1998). He failed in the 1999 and 2004 in presidential elections, and then played a supporting role in a coalition government emerging from the 2006 election.
The current leadership was reluctant to comment on Mečiar’s words, but MEP Sergej Kozlík, onetime right-hand man of Mečiar, refuted the allegations. Some party members welcomed Mečiar’s leaving, commenting that this should have happened long ago. The party is plagued by debts, stemming back from Mečiar’s times.
The party is beset by financial problems, does not have a functional website anymore, and has moved it out of its famous residence on Tomášikova street in Bratislava, Sme added.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
