Hlina to Announce Bid for KDH Chair Next Week

Hlina to Announce Bid for KDH Chair Next Week

Bratislava, May 10 (TASR) – Former MP Alojz Hlina told TASR on Tuesday that next week he’ll announce his bid to become chairman of the now extra-parliamentary Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).

Hlina said that he’s received very positive reactions during a tour of individual district congresses. “At first I was viewed as the one who was on TV, who built the wall [to block the entrance of a money-lending company in Bratislava – ed. note], but it’s physical contact that really matters,” said Hlina.

When asked about Trencin regional councillor Eleonora Porubcova, who announced her candidacy last week, Hlina said that he doesn’t know her, but he’d be pleased to meet her.

“Mrs. Porubcova is a candidate of several regional KDH chairs, such as Peter Muransky (Banska Bystrica), Marian Radosovsky (Nitra), Alojz Pridal (Trnava) and Anna Zaborska (Trencin). I’ve been formally proposed by districts in Orava, but I also feel support and positive responses from all the Slovak districts I’ve visited,” said Hlina.

KDH Presov regional head Pavol Zajac, who’s been commissioned to head KDH on an interim basis following the resignation of Jan Figel in response to KDH’s general election debacle, said that he’s happy that several personages are set to run for the KDH chair. “I view Mrs. Porubcova as an experienced regional politician. Nevertheless, it will be 340 delegates who’ll decide on the KDH chair in a secret ballot on June 11,” said Zajac.

Levoca (Presov region) mayor Milan Majersky was also originally considered to be a potential candidate, but he changed his mind due to what he called the unwillingness within KDH to change its statues and a lack of courage among the old structures to provide scope for new faces and ideas.

Those who want to run should submit their bids to the KDH Council, which will hold a session on the matter on May 28. The actual election of a new chair will take place at a national party congress on June 11.

Hlina ran on the KDH slate in the March general election, in which KDH failed to make it into Parliament for the first time ever. Hlina appeared on the KDH slate despite the fact that he was a member of a different party – Slovakia’s Citizens, which he founded some time after leaving the OLaNO caucus during the previous electoral term.