Bugar: I Can't Imagine Being Coalition's Joint Presidential Candidate

Bratislava, January 3 (TASR) – Junior governing coalition Most-Hid party chairman Bela Bugar, who’s running for president in the spring election, has told TASR that he can’t imagine becoming the joint presidential candidate of the entire coalition (which, apart from Most-Hid, also features Smer-SD and the Slovak National Party/SNS).

Most-Hid a few months ago approached its coalition partners with a proposal to discuss a joint candidate, but no agreement was reached, noted Bugar.

“Can you imagine the strongest parliamentary party not presenting its own candidate? I can’t. They can’t afford that,” said Bugar.

Pointing to the relatively high number of people who’ve already announced their bids, Bugar warned that a person with “extreme opinions” could advance to the election run-off. “For example, [former justice minister for Vladimir Meciar’s HZDS Stefan] Harabin is high in the polls. He’s a person with extreme opinions. Nevertheless, the people are the ones who decide,” said Bugar, adding that he wants to make it to the second round at least.