THE HEAD of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), Vladimír Mečiar,đđ said he would announce whether or not he will run for president on January 30, a week later than he originally planned.
He would not explain, however, why he needed more time to decide, the Slovak daily Pravda wrote.
HZDS members appealed to Mečiar to run for the post during a party meeting on January 24. At the time The Slovak Spectator went to press, President Rudolf Schuster had yet to announce his decision on seeking re-election.
As of January 28, only five candidates had submitted their official candidacies to the parliament: František Mikloško from the Christian Democratic Movement, Foreign Affairs Minister Eduard Kukan, Bratislava regional government chairman Lubo Roman, former Slovak Ambassador to the United States Martin Butora, and Ivan Gašparovič, former speaker of parliament under HZDS rule from 1994 to 1998.
