The Sme daily wrote on Monday, January 7, that the names of potential candidates for the post of general prosecutor being discussed by the governing Smer party are Bratislava regional prosecutor Jaromír Čižnár, Special Prosecutor Dušan Kováčik and prosecutor Eva Mišíková, who ran for the post in 2010 supported by the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and Most-Híd.
According to the daily, Čižnár, as an "uncompromising expert", is the most suitable candidate for the governing party. KDH leader Ján Figeľ pointed out some time ago that Čižnár was Prime Minister Robert Fico's classmate, but the daily states that none of his rulings are known to have been in Smer's favour. Sme noted in the Tuesday issue that Čižnár has not ruled out his potential candidacy, but René Vanek, his deputy, told the daily that at least until the Constitutional Court ruled on a preliminary injunction, Čižnár will not comment on the matter. MPs cannot propose a candidate without his or her consent. They hope for the Constitutional Court to rule as soon as possible, Sme wrote, but this step might be hampered by the fact that many of its judges are on holiday.
It would be rather a surprise if Smer chose Mišíková, as she was backed by the coalition of the three aforementioned opposition parties in 2010. All of the three possible candidates were approached by the TASR newswire later in the day. None of them were willing to comment on the matter in person, however. Spokesperson for the Special Prosecutor's Office (ÚSP) Andrea Predajňová said that nobody has approached ÚSP head Kováčik with any such offer and he has no ambition to run for the post.
[President Ivan Gašparovič decided not to appoint legally elected candidate for general prosecutor Jozef Čentéš last Wednesday, citing several reasons for this decision. Čentéš was elected in June 2011 - ed. note]
(Source: Sme, TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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