Pellegrini: Danko Has No Mandate to Set Tone of Domestic Politics

New York, September 23 (TASR) - Head of the Slovak National Party (SNS) Andrej Danko has no mandate to set the tone of domestic politics, President Peter Pellegrini, currently visiting the UN in New York, said on Monday, adding that SNS is among the parties with the lowest support according to recent polls, while Danko himself has low credibility in the eyes of the public. Pellegrini said this in reaction to recent tensions between Danko and representatives of Voice-SD, Pellegrini's former party. "I don't fully understand what the SNS leader is after, although I understand that his personal, even childish, appetite for a state position is probably forcing him to put his personal ambitions above the interests of the country. Slovakia is facing a serious consolidation of public finances, which must be managed by the coalition only in unity and through discussion," the president said. Pellegrini said that he doesn't comprehend whether Danko is interested in destabilising the country even more or whether he has other reasons. "Whether he is concerned about toppling the governing coalition and inducing an early general election. He should answer these questions, because his actions suggest that he wants Slovakia to be in turmoil and the governing coalition to fall apart," he stressed. The dispute between Danko and Voice arose after the former publicly lambasted several ministers for Voice at the weekend. zel/mcs