The Ordinary People group led by MP Igor Matovič filed for registration as a political party on October 28 using the name ‘Ordinary People and Independent Personalities’ or only Ordinary People in short, the TASR newswire reported.
"We submitted more than 13,000 signatures to the Interior Ministry today [October 28]. We view this as a first step towards enabling the emergence of a slate of independent candidates and allowing people who will bring expertise rather than political jerseys to get into Parliament. We've taken the first step in a fight against partocracy in Slovakia," said one of the group's four MPs, Jozef Viskupič.
According to Matovič, the new party will make it possible for independent candidates to run in the March general election. Ordinary People (OL) plans to offer the first 100 places on its slate to well-known independent candidates as well as small conservative parties.
"Even minority opinions should be heard in parliament," said Matovič. Trusting in the preferential voting provisions in the Slovak Election Act, currently independent MP Matovič and Ordinary People MPs Jozef Viskupič, Erika Jurinová and Martin Fecko will be listed in the bottom four spots on the slate.
Ordinary People plans to use Facebook, the social networking site, to find candidates for its slate for March 2012, Matovič said on October 28.
Source: 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.
