BRATISLAVA, October 14, (WEBNOVINY) — On Thursday evening, the Slovak Parliament dismissed SaS leader Richard Sulik as its speaker and elected Pavol Hrusovsky as his replacement. Sulik served as Speaker of Parliament for less than fifteen months. In a secret ballot to dismiss Sulik, 115 MPs vote in favor of the proposal, 25 MPs were against, and two abstained. A total of 142 MPs voted in the 150-member Slovak Parliament.
The proposal to replace Sulik was presented by Pavol Abrhan (KDH), who justified it saying Sulik lost trust of the three ruling coalition caucuses when on Tuesday he refused to vote for the enhanced eurozone bailout fund and thus contributed to the downfall of the government.
The remaining representatives of the governing coalition which now has minority support in parliament will meet on Friday morning to agree on which points the Slovak Parliament would discuss next week. Newly elected Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky said that first of all it would be the draft state budget for 2012. A number of legislative proposals to be approved by parliament are directly related to the budget. „We must find a majority in parliament for their approval, as the ruling coalition now lacks a parliamentary majority,“ he said. The reduced program of the October parliamentary session should be known on Friday.
Hrusovsky said it was not easy for him to accept the nomination for the post of speaker of parliament at a time just after the Cabinet lost a parliamentary vote of confidence and lawmakers voted to shorten their election term and hold early elections. „I accept it as a challenge to return the lost trust in the Slovak Republic’s legislative body. I will do everything to repair that harmed reputation,“ he said.
sita