SLOVAKIA’S president has appointed a new government to replace the one that resigned amid a political crisis triggered by the killings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.
Former prime minister Robert Fico’s three-party coalition stepped down last week following large street protests sparked by the shooting deaths of reporter Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova.
It is not clear if the move will reduce tensions and organisers of recent rallies across the country announced more protests for tomorrow.
Before he was killed, Kuciak was reporting on alleged Italian mafia ties to associates of Fico and corruption scandals linked to Fico’s leftist Smer-Social Democracy party.
President Andrej Kiska yesterday swore in a cabinet composed of the same three parties as previously, and led by Peter Pellegrini, formerly the deputy prime minister. “It’s your responsibility to fight to win public trust,” Kiska told the government members.
As the new prime minister is deputy chairman in Fico’s party, no significant policy changes are expected. Pellegrini changed five ministers of the 14 compared in the previous government.
His government is likely to continue the strong anti-migrant policy of Fico.
The coalition will have to face a mandatory confidence vote in parliament but is likely to win because it has 79 seats in the 150-seat parliament.
Pellegrini said the appointment is “one of the important steps to renew the stability of Slovakia”.
The protesters are demanding a thorough and independent investigation into the shooting deaths, with the participation of international investigators, and the creation of a credible government.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have rallied repeatedly across Slovakia since the bodies of Kuciak and Kusnirova were found on February 25, the biggest anti-government protests since the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution.
They claim they do not trust that the police would be able to investigate the killings properly.
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