BRATISLAVA, November 5, (WEBNOVINY) – The non-parliamentary Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK) wants to discuss election cooperation with MOST-HID. SMK Chairman Jozsef Berenyi said after the party’s Republican Council meeting on Saturday that they are open for talks about potential cooperation as equal partners and will expect an answer from MOST-HID until November 10. According to Berenyi, the SMK does not want votes of ethnic Hungarians to go to waste as they did in 2010, when the party did not make it to parliament. Both MOST-HID and SMK represent interests of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia. MOST-HID, led by former SMK chairman Bela Bugar, made it to parliament in the last elections, while the SMK did not.
MOST-HID offered SMK members a possibility to run on its ballot in early parliamentary elections in March 2012. “Our former colleagues knew that this is unacceptable for us. They wanted to cover the fact that they do not want to cooperate with us,” Berenyi stated. In his words, the SMK wants a joint election program and cooperation on the level of partners. The party chairman admits there is a possibility that neither his party, nor MOST-HID will make it to parliament if they stand in the elections independently.
According to Chairman of the MOST-HID deputy caucus Laszlo Solymos, the party does not object to negotiations with SMK on cooperation, but does not consider forming an election coalition with SMK the best form of cooperation. As Solymos told SITA news agency, the party has already offered cooperation in the form of places for SMK candidates on the MOST-HID election ballot.
SITA