Sulik to Give Up MP's Mandate, Replaced by Ciganikova

Bratislava, March 14 (TASR) – Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) chair Richard Sulik confirmed for TASR on Monday that he’ll relinquish his mandate as an Slovak MP and retain his seat in the European Parliament.

Under the Slovak Constitution the two roles cannot be carried out simultaneously.

Before the March 5 election Sulik claimed that if SaS were to form a pro-reform government, he’d give up his MEP’s seat in order to take part in domestic politics. “Today, I’ll relinquish my MP’s seat. We’ve decided to do what’s best for SaS. Exercising an MEP’s mandate brings votes to SaS,” said Sulik.

Sulik officially received certification on being elected as member of the Slovak parliament on Friday (March 11), but he won’t swear an oath at the inaugural parliamentary session. Instead, the seat will be passed on to Janka Ciganikova, who was the first SaS candidate to be placed below the initial threshold for receiving a mandate.