Pavol Paška’s (Smer-SD) resignation as Parliamentary Speaker on Sunday may quite well result in an early general election - even though it might not appear so now, analysts Michal Horsky and Martin Klus told the TASR press agency.
According to Horsky, public opinion obviously wasn't content with Prime Minister Robert Fico withdrawing only two relatively lesser figures from the political chessboard - Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenská and parliamentary vice-chair Renáta Zmajkovičová – regarding the overpriced CT scanner scandal in Piešťany Hospital which is linked to a company in which Paška used to have business interests. Analyst Martin Klus added that Paška was most probably forced to resign by the party in order to prevent more damage from taking place. "He is a player of the heaviest calibre in Smer. So if he's stepping down and the rest of the party pretends that this is how the party is dealing with corruption, it may have a far deeper impact on the party as such. Paška’s faction within Smer is beginning to lose ground and it may attempt to consolidate power, which obviously won't be liked by the other power faction within the party based in Western Slovakia", said Klus. Analysts concluded that an early election in September next year may suit Smer in order to maintain its current strong position on the political scene, having also in mind that the Opposition still isn't consolidated, as it's preparing itself for the general election in March 2016. "The only thing that doesn't suit Smer in September is the question how to explain its voters that why a party that hasn't lost any MPs and has a stable majority in Parliament is resorting to such a solution”, added Klus.
