SaS Seeks Special Emergency Session Over Alleged 2020 Election Interference

Bratislava, 25 March (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has called for a special emergency session of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee following reports that Russia, in cooperation with Hungary, may have influenced Slovakia's 2020 parliamentary elections in favour of the governing Smer-SD party, SaS party representatives announced at a press conference on Wednesday. Party leader Branislav Groehling said that he considers the alleged actions to be collaboration with a foreign power and treason. SaS wants the committee to summon Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD), the Hungarian ambassador to Slovakia and the Slovak ambassador to Hungary to provide explanations. "The information that we have learned from Hungary suggests that Russia, in cooperation with Hungary, actually influenced the 2020 elections, allegedly even at the request of then-candidate Peter Pellegrini, who preferred to go to Moscow rather than Washington and for whom support from Russia was more important than turning to our partners in the Western world. I'm convinced that this is collaboration with a foreign power and treason in plain view," said Groehling, adding that he's filed a motion with the Prosecutor-General's Office. He also indicated that SaS plans further steps regarding the matter. mf/df