Richter: Threat of Snap Election Remains, We Hold 75 Seats in Parliament

Bratislava, 11 November (TASR) - Given that the coalition holds 75 seats in Parliament, the threat of a snap general election remains, Smer-SD caucus head Jan Richter told the media following the failed vote on an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code on Wednesday. However, he and House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD) pointed out that other pieces of legislation were successfully passed. According to Richter, the coalition will seek to negotiate support for each bill individually, and some government-sponsored bills may also fail to pass. "We have 75 government MPs and negotiate all other matters individually, on a bill-by-bill basis. This means that the threat remains," said Richter when asked whether a snap election is a possibility. "We'll seek to negotiate each bill separately. We have no other option in this situation," he said, adding that some bills might not be approved. "We very much regret it if government bills related to the government manifesto fail to pass," he said. He thinks that, given the number of items left on the agenda, the current parliamentary session will probably last for several months. However, as long as bills continue to pass and the coalition negotiates support for them, it's premature to talk about holding a snap election, said Richter. Gaspar rejected claims that the coalition is operating as a minority government. "That's just your wishful thinking. We keep saying that we're aware that probably not all bills will pass as we had envisaged. They will pass in the way you saw today," he said. However, it's not possible to claim that Parliament is dysfunctional, given that several government bills were successfully passed in votes as recently as on Wednesday, he added. Parliament on Wednesday rejected an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code sponsored by the Justice Ministry. Only 75 of the 150 MPs present voted in favour of the draft. The entire opposition, as well as Independent MPs Roman Malatinec, Tomas Taraba and Peter Slysko voted against it. Jan Ferencak (Independent) abstained. ko/df