Remisova Dismisses For the People General Manager
Bratislava, June 1 (TASR) – Head of the coalition For the People Veronika Remisova confirmed for TASR on Tuesday that she’s dismissed party general manager Roman Krpelan, citing her long-term dissatisfaction with his work.
According to Remisova, not only her, but also other For the People members have found Krpelan’s work unsatisfactory. “In line with the party’s statutes, the general manager is supposed to coordinate the overall activity of the party at both national and regional level, but Krpelan’s results up to now have been sub-par, be they in the pre-election campaign or in organising the party following the general election,” said Remisova, adding that Krpelan has failed to provide a credible explanation for his contacts with a certain Peter Kosc, a controversial businessman featuring in the Gorilla case scandal who’s also been charged with bribing former special prosecutor Dusan Kovacik. In this vein, Remisova claimed that decisions on appointing and dismissing the party general manager are among her exclusive powers, maintaining that she’s postponed this decision several times and given Krpelan second chances.
Meanwhile, For the People founder and ex-president Andrej Kiska, who’s retired from politics altogether for health reasons, has addressed the party in a letter in which he called for the convening of a special party congress as soon as possible. The letter, which TASR has at its disposal, states that if the ongoing internal discussion on the party’s direction can’t be resolved via a change of party head, its course must be decided by party members. Kiska also called on his former party to refrain from providing statements regarding the matter for the media and from engaging in any personnel changes in the leadership until the congress. The ex-president remarked that he has no powers to interfere or any personal preferences regarding who should be at the helm of the party, noting that the letter is meant to be viewed as his opinion.
Remisova has confirmed on her Facebook account that she met Kiska over the weekend. “We agreed that settling disputes in the media is damaging for the party and mustn’t continue,” she wrote.
Several For the People members, including Justice Minister Maria Kolikova, and regional party leaderships have called for a special party congress at which a new chair would be elected. In their opinion, Remisova’s leadership prowess has been lacklustre, and they don’t have confidence in her any more. When asked whether she will vie for the top post, Kolikova replied that she considers the question to be premature.
