Danko: 2020 General Election Likely to Take Place in Late February
Bratislava, July 29 (TASR) – Parliamentary Chair and head of the Slovak National Party (SNS) Andrej Danko has stated for TASR that the 2020 general election will probably take place on February 29 and that the coalition agreement between his party, Smer-SD and Most-Hid will expire six months before the election.
Danko went on to admit that there are disagreements within the coalition, but he wants it to last until the election. He also conceded that he doesn’t know whether the coalition will be able to complete its run with 76 MPs [a majority].
“Maybe [head of Most-Hid Bela] Bugar and [head of Smer-SD Robert] Fico won’t meet me any more, I can’t really tell what they have in mind, they’re more experienced lawmakers [than me]. I’ll try to support the coalition until the very last moment. We need the votes of both Smer-SD and Most-Hid to push things through. They need the votes of my party, my caucus,” commented Danko on what will happen when the coalition agreement expires.
“Don’t think that I like everything Robert Fico comes up with or that that I share the same views with him on everything. There’s an enormous amount of disagreements within the coalition, but they are professional conflicts and we need to find agreements,” he noted.
Danko considers the fact that proposals from the coalition are okayed in Parliament to be the biggest advantage of the coalition. “You can’t let the opposition have the icing on the cake,” he said regarding support for opposition proposals, adding that this isn’t about political tactics.
The parliamentary chair also compared the coalition to a marriage. “You have a relationship, in good times and in bad, you raise children, you encounter various situations. You can’t leave here and there and then return every now and then. The coalition is a family to a certain point, you put up with everything,” he replied when asked whether he’ll hold talks with the opposition on approving laws when the coalition agreement expires.
Danko holds the belief that the opposition parties are often unable to find compromise. “They are seeking a political battle, so that they’ll be in power in the end. They come up with sensitive topics and laws so that people will like them, but they don’t realise what cohabitation within a coalition takes,” he said.
