THE HUNGARIAN Coalition Party (SMK) has called on five former MPs who left the party on June 7 due to conflicts with the party leadership to give up their mandates in the Slovak parliament.
The SMK Republican Council said on June 14 that they did not receive their mandates from SMK voters in order to leave the party later.
SMK renegades around Béla Bugár, who on the same day started collecting signatures to establish a new political party, called Most-Híd, which intends to address both Slovaks and minorities living in Slovakia, rejected the SMK request as unjustified.
“I received the voters’ support not only as SMK chairman but also as Béla Bugár,” Bugár, who during the 2006 elections was SMK’s leader, told the ČTK newswire.
In 2006 the SMK won 20 seats in the 150-seat parliament. After the exodus it has 15 left.
Altogether there are now 14 independent MPs, comprising former members of the SMK, KDH, SDKÚ and HZDS.
