In the wake of the recent voting of 6 coalition MPs in favour of opposition-backed candidate for the Attorney General post, Dobroslav Trnka, an investigation has been launched into corruption allegations.
Daily SME reports how 3 SaS MPs (anonymous) reported that one of the MPs in their ranks had been offered money to vote against the government. The MP in question apparently rejected the offer, but if this is true, it could explain why 6 MPs eventually voted against the government’s wishes.
All four coalition party leaders have already expressed their suspicions that corruption or blackmail could be behind the failed vote on Friday last week, which left the government just one vote away from crumbling, as PM Iveta Radicova would have stepped down.
Igor Matovic from the Obycajni ludia faction of the SaS party, said that although he had no evidence, he had heard rumours that four of the MPs had been bought off, with the other two being blackmailed.
Yesterday the coalition leaders agreed to block the vote on the Attorney General today, which is exactly what they did. Although candidate Trnka got all 71 votes of the opposition, this is not a majority of all MPs in attendance and so was not enough. The coalition blocked the vote by collecting their ballot papers without filling them in.
The government has therefore bought time until January or February, by which time it will amend legislation to make the next vote public instead of a blind ballot. They see no reason why such an important vote should be done in secret, but this has obviously enraged opposition leader Robert Fico.