Pellegrini's Voice-SD Party Now Registered
Bratislava, September 11 (TASR) – The Interior Ministry has registered Peter Pellegrini’s Voice-Social Democracy (SD) party, according to the political parties register published on the ministry’s website.
The date on which the party was registered was September 11.
Pellegrini announced at a press conference on Friday that on Wednesday (September 16) Voice-SD will ask the House to be allowed to create its own separate MP caucus.
“Today marks the beginning of a new, real stage in the political life of our party, which I firmly hope will be successful,” said Pellegrini, adding that Voice-SD aspires to serve as a voice not only for the young, senior and middle-aged generations, but also the regions, while acting as a “strong voice for Slovakia” abroad as well. The party espouses social and integration policies and the fight against neo-fascism.
As for the odds of recruiting support for its motion from other political parliamentary parties, Pellegrini declared that Voice-SD will respect their decision. “We’ll see how they approach our request, even though they have already signalled that they’ll have a problem with it. But we’ll officially take this step and see what our colleagues in Parliament have to say,” stated Pellegrini.
The Voice-SD leader views it as a logical foregone conclusion that no support will be extended by Smer-SD, as Smer-SD perceives the new party as its direct competitor. There have been hints that the coalition parties won’t lend any support, either, although that won’t have any impact on the quality of the opposition work that Voice-SD plans to carry out in Parliament, said Pellegrini.
Voice-SD applied for registration in mid-August, when it handed in over 94,000 signatures in support. At least 10,000 signatures are required to register a party. The Interior Ministry is obliged to decide on the matter within 30 days of their submission. Around 160 political parties and movements are registered in Slovakia.
The new party was founded by ex-premier and Parliamentary Vice-chair Pellegrini along with other defectors from the now opposition Smer-SD party. Voice-SD features several former Smer-SD functionaries, including former Smer-SD vice-chairs Richard Rasi and Peter Ziga, former presidium member Denisa Sakova, and MPs Lubica Lassakova, Jan Ferencak, Matus Sutaj Estok, Peter Kmec and Erik Tomas.
