Monitor: Tomas: Presidential Election Hasn't Changed Balance of Power in House

(TA3, 'V politike', April 28) If a Voice-SD nominee won't be elected the next House chair, Voice-SD will see it as a violation of the coalition agreement, Labour Minister Erik Tomas (Voice-SD declared on TA3's discussion programme 'V politike' (In Politics) on Sunday. According to SaS chair Branislav Groehling (SaS), also on the show, the main task of the coalition is to find a post for the SNS chair Andrej Danko, in which he would be happy and not get in the way. Tomas pointed out that the coalition agreement stipulates that the post of the House chair belongs to Voice-SD and the presidential election hasn't changed the balance of power in Parliament. "I call on the coalition partners because if we're supposed to trust each other, we should honor the coalition agreement and the Government Manifesto," he said. In Groehling's view, Danko realized that he won't get elected to the European Parliament, which is why he has blocked the election of the House chair. "The only scenario in which we would ever support Mr. Danko is if there are breathalyser tests administered in Parliament at the start of each deliberation day," he noted. Groehling also maintained that Pellegrini is attempting to shirk responsibility by running away from Parliament into the President's Office, whereas Investment Minister Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) intends to flee from the ministry to Parliament. Tomas confirmed that he is one of the candidates for the Voice-SD chair, who will be elected on June 1 at a party congress out of four vice-chairs and the party's general manager. The party hasn't yet discussed who should replace Pellegrini in the top party post, but Tomas believes it would be good to consult the issue with Pellegrini. "My opinion is that the final say should be up to the party's founding father, Peter Pellegrini," he said. mf