Richter Finds Coalition Support from 'National Coalition' Paramount

Bratislava, October 1 (TASR) - What's important for Smer-SD is to keep lawmakers of non-parliamentary National Coalition/Independent Candidates party in the SNS caucus and have them continue their support for the governing coalition, head of Smer-SD caucus Jan Richter declared on Tuesday. Richter spoke in response to the fact that members of the National Coalition, represented in Parliament in the SNS caucus, demand to have the caucus renamed as 'SNS - National Coalition/Independent Candidates'. Richter sees it as an attempt to become more visible and understands their effort. "Maybe they want to get into the spotlight more and perhaps run in the next big parliamentary election not in the colours of SNS anymore but on their own. It's up to them to handle the strategy. What's important for us is that they continue to support the governing coalition and remain part of the lawmaker caucus. It wouldn't be a good situation for us if the SNS caucus disintegrated due to procedural affairs," said Richter. Smer-SD will continue to monitor the situation, although it doesn't expect any complications to arise. Richter expects that some issues will need to be discussed separately with representatives of the National Coalition. "I was a bit surprised when they openly conceded that they're ready to support the Voice-SD nomination for the House chair post. I think this will catch Mr. (SNS leader Andrej) Danko a bit off guard too," he claimed. Richter reiterated that the vote on the House chair will be held only after a deal is clinched on the name within the entire coalition first. mf/mcs