Today the government pushed through its initiative to make the election of the Attorney General a public vote in parliament instead of the secret ballot system applied to date. The public vote will also now apply to those elected to the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) and to the Constitutional Court.
By way of a revision to the Act on Parliamentary Rules, the government is hoping to avoid a repeat of the situation last year, when the blind ballot saw at least 4 of its MPs vote against its nominee for the post of Attorney General. This produced feelings of mistrust within the coalition and almost led to the opposition getting its candidate installed, which would have seen PM Iveta Radicova stand down as head of government.
The only secret ballots in parliament now will concern be those laid down by the Constitution, namely the election of the chair and vice-chairs of parliament and of parliamentary committees.