THE RULING Slovak National Party (SNS) has nominated Ivan Petranský, a historian with the national culture and heritage institute, Matica Slovenská, for the top post at the Nation's Memory Institute (ÚPN).
The ÚPN is an archive that administers and publishes documents related to the totalitarian communist and fascist regimes in Slovakia from 1939 to 1989.
SNS Chairman Ján Slota said he was convinced that Petranský would be elected as he is "clean and untainted by the past because he is young." Petranský will turn 31 in August.
The election of the new ÚPN chairman should take place at the upcoming parliamentary session starting on January 30.
Besides Petranský, another strong candidate for the post is opposition Christian Democratic Movement MP František Mikloško, whose candidacy is supported by all parties of the opposition.
Originally, the SNS also wanted to support Mikloško, but later rejected him after the KDH MP said he wanted to keep his seat in parliament.
