Former Slovak President Andrej Kiska, who heads one of the parties in the current four-party government coalition, For the People, is giving up his mandate as a member of parliament due to health problems, he wrote on his Facebook profile yesterday.
However, Kiska pointed out that he will remain the chairman of the For the People party (Za ľudí) he founded last year.
“The years of the political struggle for a better and fairer Slovakia have also influenced my health, so I need some time to regenerate. These days, our country needs people in politics who are a 100 percent ready to help us cope with the crisis caused by the coronavirus,” wrote Kiska.
Among other things, the former Slovak President got into a dispute with former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is also a chairman of the Direction – Social Democracy (Smer-SD) party. Due to poor results in the recent general elections, Smer-SD is heading into opposition after being in the government for the last eight years.
For the People is the smallest party in the National Council in terms of the number of deputies. The party received only 5.7 percent of the vote in the elections, although it expected a double-digit result.
Last week, Kiska announced that due to his heart problems, he would no longer participate in the negotiations to form the new Slovak government and that he would be represented by the party vice-chairmen.
Kiska has problems with cardiac arrhythmia, for which he underwent surgery last year.
