Hlina: OLaNO Banned Coalitions with KDH in Bratislava, as We Nominate Liskova

Hlina: OLaNO Banned Coalitions with KDH in Bratislava, as We Nominate Liskova

Bratislava, July 26 (TASR) – OLaNO party has banned its representatives in Bratislava’s boroughs from forming coalitions with the extra-parliamentary Christian Democrats (KDH), claims KDH leader Alojz Hlina, adding that the reason is because KDH has offered its own candidate for the Bratislava mayor post, Caroline Liskova.

“There is great interest in forming such coalitions in the boroughs of Bratislava. By doing this [banning coalitions], OLaNO wanted to press upon KDH not to offer its candidate for the mayor post. Therefore, we’ve suggested that Caroline Liskova is ready to go to the primary elections against OLaNO’s candidate Jan Mrva. We’ve also suggested to OLaNO that the one who fails in the primary elections should join the common team to support the winner of the primary elections,” said Hlina, adding that the winner of such a primary election would automatically become the main challenger of current mayor Ivo Nesrovnal and would have a big chance to become the new Bratislava mayor. “However, they rejected our fair bid,” stated the KDH leader.

Hlina referred to an email as evidence of the fact that OLaNO has issued the aforementioned ban for a coalition with KDH. However, he didn’t want to publish it without the other party’s consent. “If Caroline Liskova withdraws her candidacy without the primary elections, Jan Mrva would not win anyway,” Hlina told TASR. He believes that a strong story and strong emotion must be behind the candidate who wants to win in Bratislava. “The candidate can gain it also by showing that s/he is not afraid of the primary elections,” noted Hlina.

Hlina pointed out that the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and OLaNO have an agreement on mutually supporting candidates and that KDH has had nothing to do with this agreement. “OLaNO didn’t allow for any discussion. However, we are not OKS or We Are the Family party; we don’t automatically accept anyone offered by OLaNO. Therefore, we announced that we’re going to come up with our own candidate for the mayor post even before OLaNO. We were already talking about the primary elections at that time,” said Hlina.

In reaction, MP Veronika Remisova (OLaNO) has told TASR that her party would welcome a coalition in Bratislava with KDH. “Our goal is to unite forces, not to fragment them. Nevertheless, it’s illogical if a partner in a coalition supports another candidate for the mayor post and partners attack each other like KDH has done with Jan Mrva,” stated Remisova.

“We’re sorry that KDH insists on its candidate for the mayor post who, according to the latest opinion poll, has no chance, which might lead to the current mayor’s repeated victory in the local elections in Bratislava. We can see an opinion poll carried out by Focus agency and its figures clearly speak in favour of Jan Mrva (Mrva 23 percent, Liskova 4.8 percent). It’s only up to KDH to decide what it will do based on these numbers. Our offer for KDH is still valid – we would be glad if KDH joins us and supports Jan Mrva. We have a better Bratislava within our reach,” said Remisova.