The ruling Smer party has nominated a candidate for the post of chairman of the Nation’s Memory Institute (ÚPN) administration board. Juraj Kalina, who cooperated with the ÚPN in the past, will face František Mikloško, the opposition candidate, in the race for the job, the TASR newswire reported.
“He is undoubtedly sufficiently qualified and possesses the necessary moral qualities to do a great job,” Jana Laššáková, chair of the Smer caucus and deputy speaker of parliament, said of Kalina, as quoted by TASR.
The 36-year-old candidate has a degree in archaeology and history from Comenius University in Bratislava. He served as an adviser to the Justice Ministry in 2003-09. In 2007-08, he was ÚPN department director and, since 2009, has been the head of the document digitalisation department at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes in the Czech Republic. He has co-authored a book on leading historical figures of the Czechoslovak 1940s resistance movement and served as a consultant during the production of six documentaries. He is also a sports reporter at TASR.
All five opposition parties – the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Most-Híd and Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) – have nominated former KDH MP František Mikloško for the post.
“He represents the only candidate whom the whole opposition agrees on,” KDH MP Pavol Abrhan told TASR.
OĽaNO leader Igor Matovič called Mikloško “a decent candidate for the post”, and SaS MP Martin Poliačik said that he was “involved in the creation of the ÚPN concept and is very close to its founder, Ján Langoš”, TASR wrote.
The deadline for submitting candidate names expired on Tuesday, January 15, at 16:00. Parliament plans to elect the new chairman in January, when the term of current chairman, Ivan Petranský, is set to expire.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
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