Ivan Šimko, chairman of the Mission 21 party that has ceased to exist, said at a press conference on February 22, that he is rejoining the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), the TASR newswire wrote.
“I’m joining KDH with humility as an ordinary member. I want to offer the party my skills and experience,” he said, as quoted by the TASR.
A discussion with KDH was held as early as 2005 at the time when Šimko was leaving the Free Forum party, a party that he had founded.
“We didn't find common ground then, so we set up Mission 21,” said Šimko, adding that he regrets not making more effort to return to his former mother party and saying that he views this to be his biggest political error.
Šimko was one of the founding members of KDH in 1990. In 2000 he joined the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, SDKÚ, and was appointed party general secretary and vice-chair for internal political affairs. Following a conflict with SDKÚ leader Mikuláš Dzurinda in late 2003 which led to his dismissal from the post of defence minister, he left SDKÚ.
The next year Šimko founded the Free Forum, but after failing in his bid to become party chair at the founding convention (losing to Zuzana Martináková) in March 2004, he left the party in October 2004. 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.
