Slovak premier fights push for snap polls

Bloomberg

Slovakia’s political turmoil worsened as the premier rebuffed a call from the country’s president to hold early elections as a way out a crisis that erupted when the murder of journalist sparked public protests.
The conflict increases pressure on Prime Minister Robert Fico, one of Europe’s longest serving leaders who has taken Slovakia into the euro zone but has failed to convince the public of his commitment to fighting graft. It also highlights the volatile nature of politics in central Europe, where Poland is locked in a dispute with the European Union over the rule of law and Hungary is trying to build an illiberal state modeled on Turkey and Russia.
Following one of the largest demonstrations since the 1989 fall of communism, President Andrej Kiska made a rare political appeal to demand either major changes in the government or early elections. Fico quickly rebuffed the suggestions, calling them an effort to destabilize the European Union nation of 5.4 million people. The first-ever murder of a reporter has rattled his third government, which has sought to distance itself from euroskeptic sentiment growing in EU’s post-communist members.
“It’s clear that Fico will not budge, he will go into confrontation not only with the opposition but also with the civic society,” said Michal Vasecka, a sociologist at the Bratislava Policy Institute think-tank. “Slovakia is rapidly moving toward what we can see in Hungary or Poland.”
Tens of thousands of people marched in cities across Slovakia, protesting against graft and demanding a thorough investigation of the killing of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee. Kuciak reported on organized crime gangs with alleged ties to politicians. Authorities have said the murders were were probably linked to Kuciak’s work.
Fico has rejected calls by the protesters and his junior coalition partner, the Most-Hid party, to fire Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, one of the premier’s closest allies. The opposition is also urging the dismissal of Kalinak, who is in charge of law enforcement and media have reported about his past business connections to an entrepreneur who confessed to a tax fraud. The minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. “The distrust toward the state is enormous,” Kiska told reporters in his office in the capital Bratislava. “That’s why I will start talks with political parties on how they picture the future.”
The prime minister, now in the middle of a four-year term, has for years lashed out at media for what he said were unsubstantiated reports of opaque deals linked to politicians. While he has presented the fight against corruption as a priority, no senior active politician has been convicted of graft. He said the president’s call for a snap ballot was politically motivated.
“The president has sided with the opposition which talks about a need to overthrow” the government, the prime minister said in a televised address to the nation.