SNS Calls on Fico to Oust Head of Statistics Office Nemky over Monday Polls

Bratislava, March 10 (TASR) - The coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) has called on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to oust head of the Statistics Office Martin Nemky over a poll that indicated SNS would have received only 1.5 percent of votes had a general election been held in late February, demanding that Nemky should immediately release the methodology used in the poll, as it suspects gross manipulation, TASR learnt from SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova on Monday. "This is a call by SNS for the Statistics Office not to be politically misused and to make sure that the data it provides are objective," declared Skopcova. According to SNS, the Statistics Office conducts polls that are not assessed objectively, lack public oversight and are carried out to satisfy the wishes of politicians. Skopcova added that SNS will initiate an MPs' probe of the Statistics Office in order to ensure objective polling. "We find it politically scandalous that a state institution acts in line with the wishes of the marketeers of certain political parties," she claimed. The poll in question was released earlier in the day by the Social Research Centre, which is part of Infostat, an organisation that comes under the Statistics Office. mf/df