BRATISLAVA, November 3, (WEBNOVINY) — According to the opposition SMER-SD chairman Robert Fico, the SaS MPs were required to take photographs of their ballot papers together with their MP IDs at today’s secret ballot in Parliament held to elect the next Prosecutor General. “This is an unprecedented violation of the constitutional rule about freely exercising a mandate and a grave derogation of a secret ballot,” claimed the chairman of the strongest opposition party on Wednesday. Fico does not believe the SaS chairman and Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik that this was an initiative of the deputies, and not of the party leadership or its parliamentary faction. The former Prime minister considers taking photographs of ballots to be “politically primitive and vulgar.”
According to Fico, Sulik is unable to cope with his function and he is managing Parliament as if he was managing his own company, not a legislative body. However, SMER-SD will not initiate a vote to remove him from office, as this would have no chance for success.
Fico considers the position of SDKU-DS in the Prosecutor General election to be an expression of a conflict between Prime Minister Iveta Radicova and party chairman Mikulas Dzurinda “The conflict between Mrs. Radicova and Mr. Dzurinda is gaining momentum,” he stated. The former Prime Minister thinks that the new Prosecutor General will not be elected in the second round, because of the upcoming SDKU-DS congress which is due to take place next Saturday. “Tomorrow they will probably be taking photos of how they’ll be spoiling the ballots. They chose a destructive approach again,” he concluded.
According to Fico, the SMER-SD MPs clearly supported Dobroslav Trnka and will probably not change their mind in the second round. He says it is too early to say whether SMER-SD would support Trnka if the election was to take place again in December.
Sulik considers it completely normal that some SaS MPs were making photographs ballot papers of how they voted before the secret ballot. “There were some doubts that SaS, which took the matter most seriously, will be the target of suspicions about for whom [the SaS deputies] voted or did not vote. Some of SaS MPs decided to make a photo. Now they have it and that’s it. I did under no circumstances demand it from them,” stated Sulik. He pointed out that it is under no circumstances a violation of any law.
SITA