Former Politician and Diplomat Peter Weiss Won't Run in Presidential Election

Bratislava, August 28 (TASR) - Former politician and diplomat Peter Weiss won't run in the presidential election due to take place next year, according to a statement he provided to media on Monday. Weiss explained he would have to bend his social democratic values and personal moral principles in the name of success in the fight for the presidential post. "I was active in politics in the difficult and breakthrough nineties. I have always refused to be an opportunist and I fixed social democratic values and moral principles that I still adhere to today. No political goal is a reason for me to give them up. I remain a freelance social democrat," stated Weiss. From this position, he wants to speak out against the relativisation of the threat of neo-fascism and other tendencies that harm Slovakia. Weiss said that he would also have to ask for the support of those political parties whose opinions are far from his idea of Slovakia's national interests and about its foreign-political and security anchoring. "I am not ready to flirt, in the name of a good election result, with questioning our EU and NATO memberships and join those who curse Brussels in a populist manner," he said. He is also not willing to give in to cheap anti-Americanism, to join the scaremongering with pro-Russian, anti-Ukrainian and anti-Soros sentiments, or the wave of fascination with Viktor Orban's politics. Current President Zuzana Caputova's mandate will expire in 2024. She won't run again for the post. The head of the state is elected by citizens in direct election for five years. Presidential candidates can be proposed either by at least 15 MPs, or by citizens based on a petition signed by at least 15,000 of them. ko/mcs