Slovak caretaker PM quits, adding momentum to pro-Russia rival
Eduard Heger, elected in 2021, has been running a caretaker government since last September | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Political uncertainty deepened in Slovakia on Sunday, as the pro-Western caretaker prime minister resigned ahead of an election that’s forecast to favor the Moscow-friendly party.
Eduard Heger announced that he would tender his resignation with President Zuzana Čaputová later on Sunday, two days after his Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer quit his cabinet.
“I decided to ask the president to remove my authority and to leave the president space to try with a technocrat government to stably and peacefully lead Slovakia to democratic parliamentary elections,” Heger said in a televized address, according to Reuters.
Heger, elected in 2021, has been running a caretaker government since last September, when the ruling coalition lost its majority over disagreements about energy costs.
Čaputová, who just completed a trip to London for the King Charles III’s coronation, will now decide on the head of a new caretaker government until the election scheduled in September.
Polls have shown that former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s pro-Russia Smer-SD party has been voters’ favorite to lead Slovakia, an EU and NATO country bordering Ukraine.
Speaking before Heger’s announcement, Fico had said that he would end Slovakia’s arms supply to Ukraine if elected to lead the next government.
Source: POLITICO Europe
