BRATISLAVA, August 1, (WEBNOVINY) — Vaclav Mika was elected the next Director General of the public-service Slovak Radio and Television (RTVS). The former director general of the private television broadcaster TV Markiza and later Radio Expres won the support of 74 of the 95 MPs present in 150-member Slovak Parliament on Wednesday. Only deputies for the governing SMER-SD party and the opposition OLaNO party participated in the vote. Four opposition parties SDKU-DS, SaS, KDH and MOST-HID boycotted the vote, as they consider it a political farce. Mika’s main competitor as viewed by the media, Jaroslav Reznik (head of the public-service news agency TASR), received two votes. Ilja Ruppeldt garnered three votes. Pavol Jacz received one vote. Of the 95 votes, 87 were valid.
According to KDH deputy Radoslav Prochazka, electing a new RTVS head before the Constitutional Court decides on the complaint lodged by former RTVS director general Miroslava Zemkova concerning her dismissal may create legal chaos as to who is the lawful RTVS director. „Several weeks ago the Constitutional Court ruled that Dusan Munko was unlawfully dismissed from the top post at Socialna Poistovna. At that time I expressed my opinion that Munko thus became again the director of the state-run social security provider, as the reason for his dismissal ceased to exist. And the same may occur here,“ Prochazka said. He went on to say that in order to avoid chaos regarding who is the lawful RTVS director, it was reasonable, wise, and correct not to hold the vote until the Constitutional Court decided whether RTVS director Miroslava Zemkova was dismissed from her post lawfully.
SITA