BRATISLAVA, November 8, (WEBNOVINY) — Four parties of the center-right governing coalition in Slovakia are again seeking agreement on a new candidate for prosecutor general. Its working commission presided over by KDH Deputy Chairman and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky agreed that all four coalition partners are strongly determined to seek a joint candidate for the second attempt to elect a prosecutor general in parliament in December. However, no concrete names were mentioned. Hrusovsky, however, did not rule out that several proposals will be presented about which coalition representatives will responsibly debate. He said that the atmosphere of the meeting indicated that each party wishes to choose a courageous expert for the post who will be able to fulfill the ruling coalition’s vision of the fight against organized crime and carry out the country’s penal policy so that citizens do not have to worry that the law enforceability will not be implementable only because the prosecutor general will not guarantee it.
Hrusovsky wishes to not politicize the election while the most important thing for him is the coalition agreement on a joint candidate. Only then he admits striking a broader accord on the candidate with the opposition. He said he would not be unhappy with support from the opposition. Hrusovsky even claims he is able to imagine how but he was unwilling to elaborate deeper on the issue. “It will depend on our capability and the result of our talks”, he said.
Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska (SDKU) already has mandate from her party to propose candidates and search for an agreement. Before the first election however she did not have such mandate. She said that the party agreed on certain criteria and the SDKU will thus be seeking a person open to changes at the prosecution office. At the next meeting, commission members will come up with proposals, she said. No names were mentioned today, the minister remarked. Coalition talks on the new prosecutor general are to continue on Wednesday.
The ruling coalition suffered a fiasco in the prosecutor general election earlier this month as the SDKU-DS refused to support the joint candidate on whom its three partners in the ruling coalition agreed. In the election in parliament, Eva Misikova, a candidate supported by SaS, KDH and MOST-HID received 49 votes; incumbent Prosecutor General Dobroslav Trnka, nominated by both Stanislav Janis (SDKU-DS) and Mojmir Mamojka (SMER-SD) received 70 votes. Jan Hrivnak, nominated by SDKU-DS MP Jana Dubovcova, received 28 votes, from all SDKU-DS MPs. Two nominees with highest number of votes move to the second round, as none received more than fifty percent of votes of MPs present. SDKU Deputy Chairwoman and Prime Minister Iveta Radicova said the office needs new blood. She even hinted that if Trnka was reelected, she would consider a resignation. A majority of the ruling coalition thinks that Trnka did not handle politically sensitive cases, though his office was doing well in fighting organized crime. The new election is due in December. Trnka’s term end in February 2011.
SITA