Labour Minister Richter Survives No-confidence Vote

Labour Minister Richter Survives No-confidence Vote

Bratislava, September 7 (TASR) – Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Minister Jan Richter (Smer-SD) survived a vote related to a no-confidence motion in him in Parliament on Thursday.

Only 61 MPs out of 139 present voted for his removal, while 76 votes were needed to dismiss him.

As indicated earlier in the evening, the co-governing Slovak National Party (SNS), which originally demanded Richter’s ouster, abstained from the vote.

Meanwhile, Smer-SD, Most-Hid and Independent MPs Alena Basistova, Peter Marcek and Rastislav Holubek all voted against Richter’s dismissal.

Richter was facing a no-confidence vote for the second time this year, again over the scandal involving the Clean Day resocialisation centre, which allegedly featured the sexual abuse of minors. In addition, the Opposition this time accused Richter of non-transparent and corrupt behaviour, gambling with the people’s trust and the suspicion that he’s been ignoring complaints about violations of human rights.