Parliament failed to open a special session on a caretaker government and an earlier date for the snap general election, as there were not enough MPs in the chamber to form a quorum during repeated attempts to open the session on Thursday morning. The special session was initiated by the opposition Smer-SD party, which wants Parliament to adopt its resolution on a caretaker government and reschedule the snap election from September to either July 1 or July 8. President Zuzana Caputova intends to appoint a caretaker government next week.
On Wednesday, President met the leaders of some political parties to inform them about the prepared caretaker government. The meetings were attended by interim Premier and extra-parliamentary 'Democrats' party leader Eduard Heger, Parliamentary Chair and Sme Rodina leader Boris Kollar, OLANO leader Igor Matovic, SaS leader Richard Sulik and extra-parliamentary Hlas-SD leader Peter Pellegrini.
According to President Office's communication department head Jozef Matej, the President did not invite Robert Fico (Smer-SD leader) to meet her due to his public appearances from the last few days, where he openly attacked Zuzana Caputova. Meanwhile, Caputova on Tuesday said she would make use of all available legal tools to sue Fico for his statements associating her with financier George Soros and the U.S. Embassy. She said that the Smer-SD leader is spreading lies. In a statement, Fico repeated his reservations against the president, claiming that the president serves foreign interests. Fico repeated that the caretaker government threatens the interests of Slovakia and is in conflict with the principles of parliamentary democracy. Smer-SD, however, distances itself from threats to politicians and their families.
“I'm not disturbed by any names in the upcoming caretaker government,” MP and chairman of the extra-parliamentary Hlas-SD Peter Pellegrini said following his meeting on Wednesday with President Caputova. He, however, still does not plan to express confidence in the government, but he promised support for measures to help people and address crisis situations. Liberal SaS party leader Richard Sulik said that he is happy with Slovakia's central bank vice-governor Ludovit Odor's nomination as caretaker premier. The OLANO party will announce whether or not it backs a caretaker government after its final composition is known and the government manifesto is submitted, MP and OLANO leader Igor Matovic said following his Wednesday meeting with President Zuzana Caputova.
The president should appoint a caretaker government next week.
Source: TASR
