Slovakia’s parliament will elect a new House chairman on November 25, with House vice-chair Jana Laššáková to be at the helm of Parliament by then, TASR learnt from Pavol Chovanec, spokesman for outgoing Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paška (Smer-SD), on Tuesday.
The secret vote is to be held at the very beginning of the upcoming session due to begin next Tuesday. On top of parliamentary chairmanship, Paška is also renouncing his MP mandate. Paška resigned early on Sunday following pressure from the Opposition and public protests over what both described as his involvement in a scandal concerning an overpriced CT scanner purchased by Piešťany Hospital and in corruption in health care in more general terms. Smer chairman and Prime Minister Robert Fico said earlier on Tuesday that Paška’s replacement is likely to come from the ranks of ministers. Culture Minister Marek Maďarič has been widely tipped to take over after Paška, but he has been non-committal.
