Interior Minister Mikulec Remains in Post, MPs Fail to Oust Him

Bratislava, September 24 (TASR) – Interior Minister Roman Mikulec (OLaNO) will remain in his post, as MPs failed to dismiss him at a special House session on Friday.

Of the 136 MPs present for the no-confidence vote on Mikulec, 52 voted for his dismissal, 69 against, 14 abstained from voting and one didn’t vote.

Most MPs of the governing coalition supported Mikulec during the vote, although several MPs from the We Are Family party abstained. We Are Family caucus chair Peter Pcolinsky claimed that the caucus lawmakers aren’t fully convinced that all Mikulec’s past actions were in order. “Take the fact that we abstained as a sign that we have some reservations,” Pcolinsky told journalists. However, Pcolinsky isn’t aware of the existence of any compromising material against Mikulec, as suggested by Smer-SD.

The no-confidence motion in Mikulec was initiated by the opposition Smer-SD party. It accuses Mikulec of corruption and blames him for the situation within the law-enforcement bodies.

The session on Mikulec’s ouster met its purpose, even though the minister survived the no-confidence motion, Smer-SD chair Robert Fico declared on Friday. In Fico’s view, the suspicions raised by the opposition against Mikulec haven’t been refuted by anyone, and the coalition was afraid to continue the deliberations. The vote also revealed that Mikulec doesn’t enjoy the support of the entire governing coalition, as he didn’t garner even a simple majority of all Parliament’s votes.