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<\/a><\/p>\nBy Radovan Stoklasa and Jason Hovet<\/p>\n
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) -Slovak President Zuzana Caputova picked central bank Deputy Governor Ludovit Odor to lead a technocrat government after caretaker Prime Minister Eduard Heger quit on Sunday just months before early elections in September.<\/p>\n
Slovakia, a European Union and NATO member, has struggled through months of political uncertainty as Heger’s ruling coalition was weakened, coming amid a period of high inflation and war in neighbouring Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The country’s political scene is fragmented ahead of an election that the largest opposition party, opposed to continued military aid to Kyiv, may win.<\/p>\n
Heger, who has lead the government since 2021 – most recently in a caretaker capacity – quit after a spate of senior resignations and opposition calls to move aside. Caputova said she would name the rest of Odor’s technocrat government after May 15.<\/p>\n
“I consider it important for a smooth ending and transfer of agendas between governments,” she said in a televised address.<\/p>\n
Odor, 46, has been a deputy governor of the National Bank of Slovakia since 2018.<\/p>\n
Slovakia lurched into crisis in September last year when Heger’s ruling centre-right coalition lost its majority after the libertarian SaS party quit, unhappy with efforts to help people hit by soaring energy and food costs.<\/p>\n
Heger lost a no-confidence motion in December and, in January, lawmakers agreed to early elections in September.<\/p>\n
In the past week the farm minister stepped down following a scandal over a subsidy for a firm he owns. He denied any wrongdoing. On Friday, the foreign minister offered his resignation.<\/p>\n
The departures left Heger leading several ministries, including finance, as such posts cannot be filled when the government is in a caretaker capacity.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
Polls favour the opposition Smer-SD party, led by former prime minister Robert Fico, which has opposed military aid to Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Slovakia has been a strong backer of Kyiv since Russia’s invasion and in April this year it sent its retired fleet of Soviet-made MiG fighters.<\/p>\n
Smer-SD led a Focus agency poll last month, with 17.7%. HLAS, founded by another former prime minister and one-time Smer-SD member, Peter Pellegrini, is second on 17.0%. <\/p>\n
(Reporting by Radovan Stoklasa in Bratislava and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Barbara Lewis and David Holmes)<\/p>\n
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