Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic on Sunday announced that he was willing to step down from his position provided it would save the coalition government led by his party.
This is coming after junior partners slammed his poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The junior members of the four-party coalition have threatened to quit the government if the centrist Matovic does not step down by next Wednesday.
President Zuzana Caputova, a liberal, demanded he finds a solution. ‘I am willing to resign as prime minister of this government and remain as one of its members,’ Matovic told journalists on Sunday.
However, he made his resignation conditional on other party leaders in the coalition also giving up their ministerial posts.
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‘To calm the situation, we consider the departure of Minister Richard Sulik from the government to be absolutely necessary,’ said Matovic, pointing to the economy minister and liberal SaS party leader.
Sulik has threatened to quit the coalition should Matovic refuse to step down.
Responding to Matovic on Sunday, Sulik said he would not accept him staying on as a minister in the government. ‘We will not agree with such proposals, whose main motive is obviously his (Matovic’s) personal revenge,’ Sulik said.
None of the parties want to trigger an early election as polls show opposition left-wing parties on track to win.
The political crisis comes as Slovakia, a eurozone country of 5.4 million people, is struggling with one of the world’s highest per capita rates of Covid deaths and infection, according to available statistics.
The grim toll and Matovic’s decision to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine triggered an uproar among coalition partners governing with his OLaNO party.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK