A discontented letter addressed to the presidium of the strongest governing party SMER-SD has recently been making headlines in the Slovak media. In this letter, some of Smer's district functionaries from the Košice region have called on the party's chair Robert Fico and party vice-chairman Robert Kaliňák to give up their posts and on the PM Peter Pellegrini to run for the post of party chairman. The reason behind this plea is the dissatisfaction of some party members with falling voter support and the need for a change. Smer-SD lost Saturday's (May 25) elections to the European Parliament, coming second behind the coalition Progressive Slovakia-Together with 15.72 percent of votes. Public opinion polls are currently showing its voter support oscillating at about 19 percent. In March 2015, Smer had 41 percent support. This declined sharply especially after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak from February 2018.
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini welcomes a discussion on the party's future initiated by party members, although he would have preferred it to have been held within the party.
"I view the activities of colleagues from the east as a reflection of the fact that the discussion within the party hasn't yet started, and maybe that's why they decided on public pressure", Pellegrini said before the Cabinet session on Wednesday. Pellegrini also stated that a decisive period for the party lies ahead. "Who will be where and whether somebody will be anywhere at all will depend on it," stated the prime minister, adding that changes are needed if the party is to win the next general election. However, he also cryptically admitted that he might leave the party in connection with the ongoing situation.
There have been no cracks in the unity of the Smer-SD party and its future will be the subject of deliberations at a proper congress, Trenčín regional Smer-SD chair and presidium member Jaroslav Baška said on Wednesday. Other seven regional party chairs subscribed to his statement, adding that the party declares that it has not prevented its members from commenting on the current political situation in Slovakia or within the party.
The dissatisfied letter to the party presidium came from Košice 3 district chair and former MEP Monika Smolková and her colleagues from eastern Slovak party structures. The call's initiators want to convene an extraordinary party congress to address the situation.
