The Váhostav situation has escalated with the governing party Smer-SD looking to oust Jan Figel from his parliamentary vice-chair post. The decision of Smer-SD to dismiss Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) chair Jan Figeľ over the Váhostav-SK case represents a great political mistake with the potential to escalate a cold war between political forces and drive the party of Robert Fico into isolation, Media Academy rector Eduard Chmelár and publicist Juraj Hrabko concurred in the discussion of Tablet.tv on Thursday. "The ousting of Jan Figeľ is not the effort to assume political responsibility but rather a wanton abuse of power," said Chmelár. He added that even though Jan Figeľ can be criticised for the manner in which he ran the transport ministry under the government of Iveta Radičová (2010-12), the decision to dismiss him with the use of parliamentary majority is ill-advised.
"Smer is plunging fast into political isolation, bound to be abandoned by everyone maybe except the Slovak National Party (SNS). If Smer had chosen just to lambaste Figeľ a little bit, since he's not entirely without guilt, then that would have been fine as part of a political struggle. It's ironic that Jan Figeľ was elected the parliamentary vice-chair by the very same Smer members who are now going to oust him," said Chmelár. According to Hrabko, the ousting of Figeľ, particularly if followed by the announced protest departure of all opposition representatives from all parliamentary posts, it will fundamentally change the situation in the political arena.
