Former economy minister Juraj Miškov has been replaced as deputy leader of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party by former labour minister Jozef Mihál. Miškov was a leading supporter of Jozef Kollár, who bid unsuccessfully for the leadership against the incumbent, party founder Richard Sulík, earlier this month. Kollár himself said he is considering his options, including leaving the party, the TASR newswire reported on March 26.
Miškov was fired from his post at a meeting held on March 25. According to Kollár, the decision to dismiss Miškov represents a violation by Sulík of a pledge not to purge his supporters.
“This has in fact happened and, moreover, it came without any reason given,” Kollár explained.
Sulík responded that he had proposed dismissing all the party’s deputy leaders, adding that Miškov’s dismissal cannot be viewed as an attempt to eliminate Kollár’s people. He claimed that it is only natural that when the tenure of the party’s chairman ends, the tenures of its deputy chairs do so too.
Sulík said he wants people “who have my full trust” to be deputy chairs, so he proposed Jozef Mihál and Ľubomír Galko. Sulík noted, however, that he first offered one of the posts to Kollár, but he refused.
When asked by TASR whether he would leave the party, Kollár answered that “there is no need to rush”.
“We need to wait until emotions have cooled,” Kollár added. “All possibilities remain open.”
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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