LEADER of the opposition Nova party Daniel Lipšic, who is a former prominent Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) politician, says he erred last year when he invited liberal defectors from the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party, the Sme daily reported. Lipšic admitted his party’s result in the European Parliament (EP) elections was a disappointment and he blames this on the liberal wing of the party.
NOVA won one seat in the EP, with its number two candidate, Jana Žitňanská, winning over the leader of the slate, liberal Jozef Kollár.
At the party’s presidium session on June 28 in Detva, Lipšic dismissed more than 20 members of the presidium in absentia, thus reducing the quorum required for changing party statutes, the TASR newswire reported. Kollár and the liberal wing of the party around him slammed this move as undemocratic and autocratic, TASR reported.
“In the following days, we’ll convene members of the Liberal Agreement association to decide our next steps,” Kollár told TASR.
The five liberal MPs have not decided yet whether they will leave the party.
Lipšic, on the other hand, called the changes the party took on Saturday a restart.
“This is the last presidium session for me that dealt with internal party affairs,” Lipšic said, as quoted by TASR. “A change of party statutes was passed, which abolished ideological factions, and we also have fewer vice-chairs now in order to make the party management more efficient.”
Also, NOVA elected three new vice-chairs at the session: Jana Žitňanská, Marcel Klimek and Gábor Grendel. The fourth vice-chair is to be nominated by autumn 2014.
Source: TASR, Sme
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.
