The beginning of the special parliamentary session initiated by the opposition, the purpose of which was to deliver a no-confidence vote for Justice Minister Tomáš Borec, has been postponed until Tuesday following two unsuccessful attempts to hold the session Monday morning. At least 76 MPs are needed for a parliamentary session to be opened, but only 69 were present in parliament on Monday, November 19.
During the first attempt, the opposition was short five MPs, with 71 Smer MPs failing to appear at the special session. The same scenario occurred an hour later in a second attempt. Opposition parties Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) and Most-Híd announced on Wednesday (November 7) that they were submitting a proposal to demand that Borec be dismissed. The parties opted for this move after the agenda of a special session focused on the problems of the judiciary was voted down in parliament.
"We're submitting a proposal to dismiss minister Borec because he really has made mistakes, but especially because he didn't support the normal, realistic debate that we were supposed to have here today," said SDKÚ chairman Pavol Frešo in the parliament on Wednesday, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The parties state in their proposal that since taking up his post more than six months ago, Borec has failed to come up with an approach aimed at halting the dwindling level of public trust in the judiciary. They also bemoan what they consider the minister's failure to articulate any proposals to make the law more enforceable and improve public access to justice.
The Sme daily wrote in its Tuesday issue regarding the blocked parliamentary session, that Smer “supplied” only ten deputies, and thus parliament lacked a majority to proceed. Thus, the ruling majority party Smer prevented the proposed parliamentary session from occurring. Although the entire opposition will be present at Tuesday’s session, Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MPs do not approve of recalling Borec and plan to abstain from the vote, Sme wrote.
(Source: TASR, Sme)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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