The leaders of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and Most-Híd, united under the People’s Platform, want to introduce their own candidate for the head of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ). Béla Bugár, chair of Most-Híd, stated this during a press conference held on April 26.
According to the original agreement among the opposition, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) would be responsible for selecting someone for the post. Yet, since the party has recently lost a number of its MPs, the situation has changed, Bugár said, as reported by the SITA newswire. He added that the People’s Platform will also meet with other opposition representatives to explain their decision.
Bugár added that they plan to introduce a new candidate before parliament announces a new vote for the NKÚ leadership. He added that the only condition is that the vote should be public.
“We will not attend a play of cat and mouse,” Bugár said, as quoted by SITA.
Moreover, the People’s Platform refused to support the previous proposal of Igor Matovič, chair of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) movement, who proposed that his party pick the candidate for the NKÚ post during the selection process.
SaS considers the decision of the People’s Platform a violation of the opposition’s mutual agreement. According to the party, such steps raise the suspicion that the other parties are cooperating with Smer leader Robert Fico, SITA reported.
Votes for the new NKÚ chair have been held for four times during the current government’s term, none of which have been successful since none of the opposition candidates received enough votes to be elected. According to the ruling Smer party, the nominee must receive unanimous support from the opposition, which, in its words, has not happened yet.
The tenure of the previous NKÚ chair, Ján Jasovský, ended in February 2012, SITA wrote.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
