Slovak prime minister resigns

Slovakia’s acting Prime Minister Eduard Heger has announced his resignation. Heger told journalists in Bratislava on Sunday that he had asked President Zuzana Caputova to relieve him of his job. The reason he gave was that the president had not accepted any of his suggestions on how to continue leading the government in the current political crisis. Now he wants to give it the chance to set up a civil service government until the parliamentary elections on September 30.

The conservative-populist government led by Heger is one of the most staunch military supporters of neighboring Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. This support is one of the few issues on which the president, the caretaker government and a majority in parliament have so far agreed. However, new elections threaten the governing parties with a debacle. Heger repeatedly warned that new elections could also strengthen parties that question this military support.

The government led by Heger had already lost its parliamentary majority in the summer of 2022 and was overthrown by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in December. Since then, Heger has conducted official business with limited powers on behalf of the president. The president had given him the task of facilitating early elections as quickly as possible. Instead, Heger has so far managed to postpone this until the end of September because, according to polls, he is threatened with serious defeat. Heger repeatedly warned that new elections would bring the Social Democrats, whom he criticized as corrupt, back to power.

In recent days, Heger’s position has been weakened by the resignation of two ministers. (sda/dpa)