The departure of MPs Vladimír Palko, Pavol Minárik, František Mikloško and Rudolf Bauer from the opposition Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) may lead to further defections from the party, a senior political analyst said after the four announced their decision to leave earlier on Thursday, February 21.
Grigorij Mesežnikov speaking to SLOVAKIA declined to state how many other MPs want to leave KDH, but said that the departure of the four lawmakers is a strong blow to party integrity and will cause a rupture inside KDH structures. He thinks the four decided to quit the Christian Democrats because they saw no prospects of pushing through the type of policies that they outlined when Palko ran against Hrušovský for the party leadership last summer.
"This group has been most concerned about national issues, is wary of Hungarians, and has even kept the fellow opposition SDKU-DS at arm's length. The Palko-led group may well have been hoping to succeed in gaining support within KDH to promote this policy line. That support, however, failed to appear. I'm not surprised that they've come up with a new initiative," said Mesežnikov.
At the same time, Palko's group hasn't deviated from basic party tenets, being those issues relating to the European Union, cultural ethics or the status of religion in society. Palko, Mikloško, Minárik and Bauer are highly popular among KDH supporters, which is why their departure could lead to the loss of some party voters, said the analyst. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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