Tenure of current government won't be shortened

The mandate of the current Government won't be reduced. I'm 100 percent certain of that, Prime Minister Robert Fico told TASR in an interview, denying all speculation predicting an early end for his Cabinet. Similar speculation began to emerge in December 2014, following Fico's appearance at a HN Club discussion at which he mentioned the hypothetical end of the Government even before its tenure is up. Fico's statement came at a time when a series of public protests against corruption and the embezzlement of state money in the wake of the infamous CT scanner case was taking place. The prime minister later told the public that his words were twisted by the media, and he emphasised that he was talking about a hypothetical scenario. In the interview Fico observed that his governing Smer-SD party is under no stress, and as concerning political campaigning, the party is very active throughout the year. "While other political parties still hadn't come to life, we organised a whole series of specific events that the other parties neglect", said the premier. The prime minister further noted that the campaign for the 2016 parliamentary election will be entrusted to a representative of Smer's top echelons. Fico expects that this role will be assumed by party vice-chair Marek Maďarič - as in past elections. "We'll try to win the [2016] election, and we'll attempt to set up a coalition government, because Slovakia is doomed to have a coalition government", emphasised Fico, adding that his party would pursue the formation of a very strong and stable government.