Matovic: PS to Become Stronger Now, This Might Hurt Small Parties

Bratislava, September 17 (TASR) - Opposition's Progressive Slovakia (PS) will become even more popular after its leader Michal Simecka was ousted from the post of the House Vice-chair by the governing coalition, thinks 'Slovakia' chair and former prime minister (2020-21) Igor Matovic, who warned that this might hurt smaller parties in the next parliamentary election and thus enable Smer-SD to form another government again. "Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has turned PS into his main rival not with the aim to make PS win the next election but to enable the 'mafia' to win the next election. That's because the opposite holds true - the stronger PS is, and it will become stronger after this ouster, the greater the chance that votes of smaller democratic parties will be squandered and that means Fico increases the odds of cementing the 'mafia' in power for decades to come," said Matovic. The ouster of Simecka was criticised by MP Veronika Remisova (Slovakia-For the People-KU) as well, as she pointed out that Parliament doesn't have a proper chair and now lacks a vice-chair as well. "We find this a display of gross disrespect not only towards the institution itself and the Slovak Constitution but also the people of Slovakia, from whom the Government has received its mandate. We perceive the preservation of this state as denigration of constitutional customs and the lack of respect for their own nation," she claimed. mf