Fico: We will continue our tough opposition politics

The Smer opposition party leader Robert Fico confirmed on Thursday that his party would not change its politics after the approval of a date for an early general election. "We don't have any reason to be tolerant toward a government that has always been close to corrupt MPs and that has always needed to rely on their votes, and that's why we will go on with tough opposition politics vis-a-vis Mikulas Dzurinda's government," Fico said after the early election was officially approved on Thursday in Parliament. Fico does not regard the agreement of political parties on an early election as being to the premier's credit. "His government has fallen apart, Fico added.

HZDS leader Vladimir Meciar would be willing to negotiate on confidence or no-confidence for Mikulas Dzurinda's Government only if it was clear who will create the new Cabinet. Meciar rejects a caretaker government as being undemocratic. If necessary, such a government could be appointed by President Ivan Gasparovic. Such a Cabinet would be independent of political parties that arrived in Parliament following the 2002 election and hence it wouldn't be under Parliament's control. Meciar recalled that such an experiment has been made in the Czech Republic, where there was a caretaker government led by Josef Tosovsky. "Dzurinda is not good, but at least he is under political control. A caretaker government would not be under anybody's control.

Communist KSS leader Jozef Sevc finds the approval of an early election as the most suitable solution of the current political crisis. "The suspense would escalate, the situation would be over- dramatised and people would suffer even more," Sevc told journalists. According to him, it is the voters' turn now and they have the chance to decide whom they will vote for... so that suspense like this will not re-occur.