Mikloško Collects 19,924 Signatures For Candidacy

The petition committee for František Mikloško has handed in 2,137 signature sheets with 19,924 signatures of people who support his presidential candidacy, the committee said on January 22. "Collecting them (signatures) was a good way for us to find out what people value in him as a presidential candidate," said committee member Vladimír Palko, adding that Miklosko personifies the fight by Slovaks for freedom and democracy, while he has always supported the protection of life. He stands for Christian, conservative and traditional Slovak values, and he is the only candidate that puts Slovak interests above the EU's, said Palko for the TASR newswire.

The committee believes that Mikloško will exceed all expectations in the March 21 presidential elections. They want to use all available campaign methods, while claiming that the biggest part of the campaign has already been carried out by Miklosko's public life. Mikloško has accepted the endorsement of the non-parliamentary Christian Democrats of Slovakia (KDS)and will run as a civil candidate, requiring him to submit at least 15,000 signatures to Parliament.

A former member of the Christian Democrats (KDH), Mikloško ran for president in 2004, but did not make it to the second round, in which current President Ivan Gasparovic defeated LS-HZDS leader Vladimír Mečiar. The first presidential candidate to register their signature sheets for the 2009 elections was Dagmar Bollova, a former Communist Party (KSS) member, who did so on January 20. None of the other likely candidates have submitted their petitions yet. TASR

Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports

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