Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) vice-chair Ivan Mikloš, who is also the outgoing finance minister, will not seek to retain his party position or bid for the leadership at a forthcoming SDKÚ congress, the Sme.sk website reported on Thursday, March 15. Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaroš said that Mikloš will become a rank-and-file MP.
His withdrawal leaves SDKÚ vice-chair Lucia Žitňanská as the only candidate currently in the running to replace Mikuláš Dzurinda as party leader. Dzurinda announced earlier in the week that he would not run for the post of party chairman at the next congress, the TASR newswire wrote. He made the announcement following the SDKÚ's poor result (6.09 percent) in the March 10 election.
Meanwhile, Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) vice-chair Daniel Lipšic, who in Saturday's general election received slightly more preferential votes than KDH leader Ján Figeľ, announced on Thursday, March 15, that he is considering a bid for the leadership. He told TASR that despite its second-place result in the election, the KDH could have scored far more than 8.8 percent given the disappointment that voters felt in the other right-wing parties. Lipšic, who is the outgoing interior minister, said that he intends to discuss the issue with others in the KDH, including the question of whether he would be able to attract more voters to the party. Lipšic stressed that he has still not made a final decision on the matter.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
