Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) weathered a no-confidence motion on Wednesday and will remain in his post. 61 MPs voted for his resignation, while 26 were against. The extraordinary parliamentary session was summoned by the Opposition, which needed 76 votes to succeed.
The opposition condemns plagiarism and declares that plagiarising texts written by others is shameful in a civilised country. Peter Pčolinský from the Sme rodina party:
"In neighbouring countries, state authorities, including a Hungarian president, resigned as soon as any kind of accusation appeared regarding their university thesis. Unfortunately, Andrej Danko is not courageous enough to step down himself."
Andrej Danko claims he defined the sources of information in his thesis:
"The doctoral thesis is not a scientific thesis and can be written as a compilation."
According to opposition MP Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Andrej Danko had two months to submit the proof that he had legally earned his post-graduate degree. Instead of doing so, he allowed access to his final thesis for this degree only to a select circle of authorised individuals.
A week ago, Andrej Danko announced that the Slovak National Party would lend support to the extraordinary session of the Parliament with the aim of holding a no-confidence motion in him. Danko claimed that he wanted lawmakers to let him know whether or not they trust him. In Wednesday's vote, he won the support of the leading coalition SMER party while its junior coalition partner Most Hid absented from the vote. Last week, the party issued an official statement reading that Andrej Danko should make a personal decision. Yesterday, its leader Bela Bugar said for RTVS after the no-confidence motion:
"Do you really think that due to some problems with one post the government would end."
In September, the independent Denník N daily brought an article claiming that Andrej Danko was keeping how he acquired his JUDr. title a secret. The Parliamentary Chairman stated that he had received his Doctor of Law degree legally and that he viewed the Denník N article as nothing but an effort to damage his reputation. He suggested that the media attacks might be a response to his potential presidential bid. Nevertheless, following the articles in the media, the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica adopted a measure ensuring that only authorized persons had access to the Parliamentary Chairman's doctoral thesis. Later on, the Vice Chancellor of the Slovak Technical University, Robert Redhammer, stated that all students' works should be accessible by the public and should include the name of the supervisor, who is in a way its co-author and is responsible for the quality of the particular work.
