Presidential candidate Milan Melník, who is supported by the governing coalition party ĽS-HZDS, has received more than 120,000 petition signatures, HZDS chairman Vladimír Mečiar announced at the party's Republic Board session in Dolný Kubín on January 24, the TASR newswire wrote.
According to Mečiar, Melník's petition committee will hand in the signature sheets to Parliamentary Chairman Pavol Paška on Tuesday, January 27.
“ĽS-HZDS has voiced its support for professor Melník even though he isn't a party member ... We've chosen a candidate with the most potential to represent the state with dignity. We've taken into account that he is less well-known and many people may well ask who he is. The introductions are already taking place,” Mečiar said.
The new head of the state should have contacts abroad, according to Mečiar.
“(The President) should be able to open doors abroad and broker contacts. Seeing the various changes and political wrangles around, we’ve chosen a man who is able to unite the public and who wasn’t in any political party. In the selection process, we also took into account that our candidate shouldn’t be linked with any past privatisations,” Mečiar explained.
The ĽS-HZDS chairman also stated that oligarchs have to be kept away from politics in Slovakia, as they deform it. “This issue is hot, although hidden,” said Mečiar, adding that intellectuals, on the other hand, must not be separated from political life. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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