Groehling: Coalition a Hodgepodge, SaS Won't Take Part in House Chair Election

Bratislava, March 25 (TASR) - The coalition continues to be a hodgepodge [a term that current Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) often used when in opposition in the past to refer to multi-party coalitions - ed. note] and its individual parties continue to blackmail each other, leader of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party Branislav Groehling declared at a press conference on Tuesday. "They shouldn't bother us with the election, let them elect Mr. [Richard] Rasi [as the House chair] now, so that we can get this over with. They shouldn't expect us to hit the streets and wave some flags around as if we were living in a monarchy, calling out 'Mr. Rasi has been elected, hurrah!, we're all beside ourselves with joy here'. Let them elect him and be done with it," he said. MP Maria Kolikova (SaS) criticised the governing coalition for leaving Parliament in gridlock for months. She pointed out that this left the government without any supervision for the entire time. Kolikova also doesn't like the fact that a motion for a no-confidence vote in the government has been "adjourned indefinitely". A session of Parliament began on Tuesday, with the election of new House chair as one of the items on its agenda. mf/df