BRATISLAVA, June 17, (WEBNOVINY) – After half a year of efforts, the Parliament succeeded to elect the new prosecutor general on Friday. Jozef Centes, the coalition’s candidate won the secret ballot when he received 79 votes of 80 MPs present. One lawmaker did not vote. Centes’s opponent Dobroslav Trnka has withdrawn his candidacy earlier on Friday.
Jozef Centes needs yet to be appointed by President Ivan Gasparovic, who has already announced that he will wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court. It should decide whether it was constitutional for the voting method to be changed from a secret ballot to an open. However, Speaker of Parliament Richard Sulik does not consider these plans justified. “It is his obligation based upon the Constitution. I thus presume he will fulfill his constitutional duties,” Sulik told reporters after the election. He was also dissatisfied with SMER-SD scrutators, who were not present at the secret ballot, as he considers this to be clear violation of the rules of procedure. Sulik is convinced that the opposition obstructs as much as they can, as they have a problem: they exactly know investigation of how much cases has been suspended.
Originally, the election was to be an open one, but on June 15 the Constitutional Court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the public vote from being held until the court decides on the merits of the case initiated by a motion by acting Prosecutor General Ladislav Tichy, in which in late May he contested the legality of the bill allowing a public elections of the prosecutor general..
Former Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka withdrew his consent with the proposed candidacy for the post of prosecutor general on Friday morning as he believed the vote should only be held after the court issues a ruling. Sulik, on the other hand says that the decision of the Constitutional Court is not binding for the parliament as long as it is not published in the Collection of Laws. This will most probably be next Tuesday. He, however, claimed that the Parliament respects the decision, and therefore called a secret vote.
“I’ve seen how much you are willing to respect the decisions of other constitutional organs; I’m therefore not willing to further participate at actions which in the future can again create issues that could lead to questioning possible constitutionality. To be more specific, of legality of the election of the candidate for being named to the office of the prosecutor general,” stated Trnka when withdrawing his consent.
SMER-SD leader Robert Fico told a news conference following the processor general election that after coming to power, he will correct all undemocratic decisions of the current Cabinet, as he considers them undemocratic and striving to gain control over the prosecution. “Today’s session of the parliament should not have been held. It is mockery of the Constitutional Court. Today is the black day of the Slovak parliament, comparable to the night of the long knives […] in 1994,” said Fico. That time, the then-ruling coalition, headed by Fico’s former partner Vladimir Meciar, stripped the opposition of any influence in the state. “There is an incompetent Prime Minister leading the Cabinet and an incompetent Speaker leading the Parliament,” announced Fico, according to whom Centes has appeared to be a pure party nominee in their communication.
SITA