Parliament has again failed to elect a new head of the Nation’s Memory Institute’s (ÚPN) board, after opposition candidate František Mikloško did not receive enough votes. Mikloško was the only candidate in a secret ballot on January 29, after the ruling Smer party withdrew its nominee one day before the vote, the SITA newswire reported.
The latest election was the second attempt to elect a new head of the ÚPN board; the tenure of the ÚPN's current head, Ivan Petranský, will expire in the end of January. The first ballot took place in November. In both rounds Mikloško received 63 votes, SITA wrote.
“The numbers were clear, I expected that they would not elect me,” Mikloško told the Sme daily, adding that he will not run for the post again. “I have at least some human pride,” he commented.
Meanwhile, the Sme daily reported that the reason why Smer had withdrawn its own candidate, Juraj Kalina, might have been statements he had made on some issues – such as the erection of the controversial statue of Svätopluk in the courtyard of Bratislava Castle and the refusal to commemorate representatives of the fascist Slovak State during WWII – in an interview with the newspaper.
Sources: SITA, Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
