President Ivan Gašparovič on Monday, June 14, launched a series of talks with representatives of the six political parties – starting with the top vote-getter and progressing downwards – that made it into parliament after Slovakia’s general election, the TASR newswire was told.
Incumbent Prime Minister and Smer party chairman Robert Fico (62 seats) was the first to hold talks with Gašparovič in the Presidential Palace earlier in the day. By virtue of being chairman of Smer, which received the largest share of votes, Fico was tasked with forming a coalition. The deadline for Fico has been set for Wednesday, June 23.
Following the election results, it will be the turn of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) with 28 MPs. However, it is not the party’s election leader, Iveta Radičová, but rather SDKÚ chairman Mikuláš Dzurinda who will attend the meeting with the President, Gašparovič's spokesman Marek Trubač told TASR.
This is because the President’s Office has decided to invite only party chairmen. After holding discussions with Dzurinda, Gašparovič will meet with Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party (22 seats) leader Richard Sulík later on the day. Chiefs of the remaining three parties (Ján Figeľ of Christian Democrats-KDH (15), Béla Bugár of Most-Híd (14) and Ján Slota of SNS (9) will meet the President on Wednesday, June 16.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
