Sutaj Estok: Despite Losses, Voice-SD Emerged Stronger from Coalition Crisis

Bratislava, March 27 (TASR) - Despite the loss of MPs and a ministry, the governing Voice-SD is emerging from the coalition crisis strengthened, party leader and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok told a news conference on Thursday, adding that the election on Wednesday (March 26) was held in the correct manner. Sutaj Estok views Richard Rasi's (Voice-SD) election as House chair as important for Slovakia. "According to the constitution, Slovakia is a parliamentary democracy and parliament is a key element in our system, the composition of which is decided exclusively by the people in democratic parliamentary elections. Although the House chair is only 'primus inter pares' [first among equals], he has extremely important powers in leading the whole parliament, in law-making process, and in representing Slovakia abroad," said Sutaj Estok. The interior minister regrets that the coalition parties took almost a year to fulfil their obligation to elect the head of the law-making body. New House Chair Rasi stated that there are MPs in Parliament whose main agenda is to stir up conflicts, adding that he's not speaking about matter-of-fact conflicts concerning legislation. Rasi was elected as the House chair by the votes of 79 coalition MPs late on Wednesday afternoon. The post had been vacant since April 2024, when then House chair Peter Pellegrini won the presidential election. Peter Ziga (Voice-SD) was tasked with managing Parliament on a temporary basis. In line with the coalition agreement, the House chair post belongs to Voice-SD. The election was postponed for several months, as there was no absolute agreement on a candidate within the coalition. Rasi returned to Parliament from the helm of the Investment Ministry. He was replaced in the post by Samuel Migal (Independent). ko/df