Opposition candidate Kamil Krnáč, a former Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP, failed to receive enough votes in a secret parliamentary vote held on July 26 to be appointed head of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ). He was the only candidate for the post, the TASR newswire reported.
Only 53 of the 146 MPs voted for Krnáč, who needed at least 76 votes to be elected. Parliament also failed to elect Milan Galanda, a lawyer nominated by Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO), to the post of NKÚ vice-president.
The Sme daily reported that doubts had earlier emerged about Krnáč's election to the post even though Prime Minister Robert Fico had promised that the opposition would be allowed to nominate the officeholder and that his Smer party would support the opposition's joint candidate.
“Smer MPs failed to keep their promise, given by their chairman Robert Fico,” said SaS boss Richard Sulík, as quoted by TASR, after the vote, adding that he would be ashamed if he were in the prime minister's position.
The number of votes for Krnáč indicates that at least 14 of the opposition's 67 MPs did not vote for him, although the secret ballot process used means that their identity is not known.
Sulík said that SaS was ready to nominate Krnáč again in a future vote.
“We want to give a chance to our colleagues to keep their promises after all,” he said, as quoted by TASR, refusing to speculate on which opposition MPs had failed to vote for Krnáč.
Sources: TASR, Sme
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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