Fico: Smer-SD Will Come Up with Its Own Presidential Candidate

Bratislava, October 12 (TASR) - The strongest political party Smer-SD will come up with its own candidate in the presidential election, party leader and ex-premier Robert Fico told a news conference on Friday. The scenario of Smer-SD supporting somebody else will not happen. Fico answered the question of why his party is still waiting [to announce the name of its candidate - ed.note] with a counter-question: "Why should I put a candidate on the plate for you? To enable you spit at him, crush and strangle him? We still have enough time to do so. Why would we expose our candidate to media attacks? These will come to such an extent we don't even dream about," stated Fico. According to him, Smer-SD's tactics are very clear. "It will be our candidate," he said. Economy Minister Peter Ziga (Smer-SD) said earlier this week that the party will introduce its candidate following the local elections due to be held in November. He didn't rule out it might be a person running for the presidency with their support. "We'll announce a name that won't need a long election campaign," stated Ziga. The presidential race is slated for the spring of 2019. The parliamentary chairman will announce its date. The presidential election is a two-round vote, meaning that if none of the candidates manages to garner a majority of votes, a second run-off round is held between the two top contenders within 14 days. ko/mcs/tz