BRATISLAVA, October 21, (WEBNOVINY) — The Slovak Parliament did not elect the candidate of the SaS party, Jozef Kollar, to the post of deputy speaker of parliament on Friday. In order for him to be elected, seventy-six votes were needed, while Kollar was one vote short. 52 deputies voted against his election, three abstained from voting and four votes were invalid. After the vote, Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky announced a break in the session.
Following the vote, Kollar said that the fact that he was not elected to the post will not affect recent agreements among the four ex-ruling coalition partners. According to him, the accord that the SaS party will support the draft state budget for next year as well as support the Cabinet of Iveta Radicova in a confidence vote is still in effect. He remarked that a repeated vote on the deputy speaker of parliament can be held already this Friday. “We do not connect personnel nominations with support for the Cabinet or the draft budget,” he underscored.
The SaS party, which did not express confidence in the Cabinet of Iveta Radicova in a vote linked with the support for the eurozone bailout fund extension on October 11, has agreed with the three center-right parties on support for Radicova’s Cabinet in exchange for their support to some SaS proposals in parliament, while Jozef Kollar was to be elected to the post of deputy speaker of parliament.
SITA