On Monday the liberal Freedom and Solidarity party chairman Richard Sulík announced that he would resign from the top party post at an extraordinary congress on June 11, only to throw his hat back in the ring for re-election. "The reason isn't a division in the party, but a detrimental discussion in the media that is damaging the party," said Sulík, pointing out that a similar debate on the party's leadership was in place following the 2012 general election. "The situation when we were bothering people with our internal problems led to our voters' support gradually shrinking in polls," said Sulík, who added that just before the election it looked like liberals would be outside of Parliament. "This is why I'm taking this step." At the same time, he announced that at the congress he'll present his bid to be re-elected chairman for the next four years. If he isn't elected, according to his own words, he'll remain a rank-and-file party member.
In the March general election the Freedom and Solidarity party gathered 12.1 percent of the votes, becoming the strongest party on the right side of the political spectrum. Sulík, who has been the party's leader since its inception in 2009, was considered a possible future prime minister; but incumbent Premier Robert Fico managed to put together a coalition of his Smer-SD with the Slovak National Party (SNS), Most-Hid and Siet (Network). When his hopes for forming a coalition government vanished, Sulík, who is also a Member of the European Parliament, resigned as MP. Party vice-chairman Jozef Mihal (a former Labour Minister) has already announced his intention to run for chairman, while another vice-chair L'ubomir Galko (a former Defence Minister) has also been considering it. A party congress was scheduled for next year. Bringing it sooner displeased vice-chair Lucia Nicholsonova: "It's unfair ... I had been looking forward to seeing a fair contest of two or more platforms, and I'm not sure whether this can be managed within a few weeks," said Nicholsonova.
