Premier: Slovakia Also Needs Fewer Parties, It's More Efficient

Tashkent, June 9 (TASR-correspondent) - Europe will need to talk about reforming the political system based on free democratic elections, as the path taken by Uzbekistan, Vietnam and China is an extremely economically efficient one, and countries with governments made up of many political parties aren't competitive with them in the long term, said Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Monday during his visit to Uzbekistan, adding that Slovakia would also benefit from a reduction in the number of political parties. "When you have 100 political parties, you can't compete. When you have a government that is made up of four political entities, you can't compete," said the prime minister. "This [Uzbekistan] is simply a country that is built on a strong, wise and educated president. I'm talking about democratically free parliamentary elections in Slovakia and about changing the system in that the number of political parties needs to be reduced," stated Fico, using Uzbekistan as an example. The Slovak premier went on to say that there's a need to be inspired by systems that are set up differently. These systems are, in his view, more cost-effective. "I'm only warning that if we continue to look inwards in Europe and feel that we're the ones who are supposed to be giving opinions and instructions, we'll suddenly find that we are at the tail end. So I'm calling for a change in the political system to make it more efficient," emphasised the prime minister. In his view, the current political system lacks continuity in the governance of the state. In this context, he congratulated Uzbekistan on the results achieved under the leadership of current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who, in his view, is leading the country wisely. am/df