Parliament will resume debate of an opposition initiative to bring President Ivan Gašparovič before the Constitutional Court on March 12, after governing party MPs stymied the first attempt to debate it on February 14, the TASR newswire reported.
Opposition parties agreed to suspend the February 14 session following a mass walkout from the chamber by MPs from the governing Smer party in protest at the motion. Moments after the Smer MPs, including Speaker of Parliament Pavol Paška, had left, Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) leader Ján Figeľ took the chair as deputy speaker and asked MPs present whether they would agreed with a proposal from fellow opposition MP Lucia Žitňanská to suspend the session until there was "a more dignified setting". No lawmaker opposed her suggestion, so the session was effectively adjourned.
Smer MP Miroslav Číž, when asked whether he and his Smer colleagues would repeat their walkout on March 12 as well, he said that this would be subject to intra-party talks. He added that Smer would continue to view it as "undignified" to discuss taking the president to court. The opposition is pushing for a constitutional lawsuit against Gašparovič over the president's ongoing refusal to appoint Jozef Čentéš as general prosecutor, despite him being chosen by parliament in June 2011.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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