If banned ultra-right-wing organisation Slovenská Pospolitosť (Slovak Togetherness) submits a new application for registration as a political party, the Interior Ministry will deal with it in the same way as it does with any other case, the ministry's spokesman Erik Tomáš told the TASR newswire on March 16.
"If an application is submitted, we'll examine it to see whether it meets or doesn't meet the requirements laid down by the law," said Tomas, adding that Slovenská Pospolitosť is not currently registered as a political party.
“The verdict of the Supreme Court on dissolving Slovenská Pospolitosť as a political party is valid. No such party is registered at the Interior Ministry, so it can't run in a general election,” Tomáš stressed.
Tomáš said this in reaction to comments made by Pospolitosť leader Ivan Sýkora, who announced the possibility that the organisation could register itself under another name and run in elections under the umbrella of another party. According to information published in the Hospodárske Noviny daily on the same day, Sýkora announced that “even though the party is illegal, it can be active, with the exception of participating in an election” until it is re-registered.
According to Pospolitost's website, its assembly in January pronounced the Supreme Court's 2006 decision to be invalid and declared the re-establishment of the party. New leadership was elected, an agenda was approved and the new leaders were given the task of drawing up a new Manifesto for the party and preparing it for taking part in the next local and general elections.
Although Pospolitosť was outlawed as a political party in 2006, it was still allowed to exist as an organisation until November 13, 2008, at which time Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák announced that he was also outlawing it as a civil association. Pospolitosť is currently in the process of contesting the minister’s decision. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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