President: If Voice and SNS Don't Stabilize, Early Election Can Ensue

Bratislava, January 13 (TASR) - If the situation in the coalition Voice-SD and SNS caucuses won't be stabilised soon, an early election, as presented by Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), can be considered, President Peter Pellegrini declared on Monday. Pellegrini added that he won't participate in destabilising the governing coalition. The head of state perceives it as legitimate that Fico turned to him with a request to resolve the situation in Voice-SD party, seeing as Pellegrini knows its members well. At the end of the day, however, the onus to preserve the coalition lies squarely with the Prime Minister. "It's he who must guarantee the majority of his coalition in Parliament and every prime minister remains prime minister only as long as he commands more than 76 votes in the House," noted the President. According to Pellegrini, all he can do is to venture well-meant advice to the Voice-SD party leadership on how to proceed. "I'm not sure if I have such a power today and such options to just miraculously use a magic wand to change the opinions of legislators who don't always agree with everything that comes out of the governing coalition," he said. On Sunday, Prime Minister Fico claimed that if junior coalition parties Voice-SD and SNS don't tackle disputes within their own ranks, it will become necessary to call for an early election, whereas another option might be to revisit the coalition agreement and change the division of posts within the coalition. Fico added that he will do everything in his power to make sure the coalition remains cohesive, while pointing out that the Smer-SD caucus is stable. mf/mcs