The vice chair of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) party, Iveta Radičová, who hopes to win her party's primaries and top the SDKÚ list of candidates for the June 2010 election, has confirmed that she is in talks with potential centre-right partners after SDKÚ chairman Mikuláš Dzurinda agreed to take his name off the election slate following accusations of money-laundering against the party, the TASR newswire reported.
Radičová told TASR on February 7 that she has so far spoken on behalf of her party to two new parliamentary hopefuls, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and Most-Híd party, but said that under a mutual agreement she would not brief journalists on the results of the talks until she has reported to her party presidium.
SaS leader Richard Sulík, who before the party-funding scandal broke made co-operation with SDKÚ conditional on Dzurinda being replaced as the party's election leader, confirmed that his party has discussed multiple points of interest with Radičová, including a pre-election coalition under her leadership. He stopped short of offering details, however, saying that he was not authorised to reveal any more information.
The head of SDKÚ parliamentary caucus, Stanislav Janiš, said that Radičová's negotiations are among many SDKÚ talks aimed at creating an alternative to the current government.
Most-Híd deputy chairman Zsolt Simon confirmed that chairman Béla Bugár has had discussions with Radičová, but added that more negotiations will be necessary. Christian Democrat (KDH) caucus head Pavol Hrušovský said that his party has not been invited for talks by SDKÚ since Dzurinda was taken off the slate. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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