House Chair Rasi Confident about Stability of Voice-SD's Caucus

Bratislava, 4 November (TASR) - House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) believes the current government will remain in office until the end of its term, while the junior coalition Voice-SD party wants to see the general election taking place at the regular time, he told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday. Rasi is also convinced that the current composition of Voice-SD's caucus will remain stable until the end of the electoral term. "I think that we'll see out our term. On behalf of Voice-SD, I can say that we want the government to complete its term and the election to take place at the regular time, most likely at the end of September. [...] I'm convinced that the Voice-SD caucus, in its current composition, will remain stable until the end of the electoral term," said Rasi. He also stated that his party's caucus would take the initiative to ensure that Parliament approves proposals put forward by Voice-SD's ministers. According to Rasi, these include measures that would help the public, and he added that he could not imagine why anyone would oppose them. He also commented on legislation that Smer-SD wants to push through and which independent MP and former environment minister Tomas Taraba said could not be a priority in the current situation. This includes an amendment to the Election Act and legislation concerning cooperating witnesses. Rasi views them as priorities for his coalition partner. "As a coalition partner seeking to stabilise the coalition, we supported them, but these are Smer-SD's priorities," said Rasi. He described the approval of the next year's state budget as a priority, adding that Voice-SD is prioritising the proposals put forward by its ministers and MPs. According to Fico's statement on Wednesday, it's the duty of the government and Parliament to do everything possible to complete the current electoral term, while greater attention will need to be paid to individual MPs when discussing which bills will or won't be passed. He said that Smer-SD's parliamentary caucus is stable, whereas its coalition partners SNS and Voice-SD are responsible for the current situation concerning the parliamentary majority, as they've failed in the process of drawing up their slates and their caucuses have fallen apart. jrg