Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said today that he has asked the president to be relieved of his duties after the resignation of ministers weakened his interim government ahead of elections in September.

Heger is expected to meet with President Zuzana Tsaputova tonight, who has the right to appoint a new acting prime minister.

Heger has faced calls from the opposition to pave the way for the appointment of a technocratic government to lead the central European country before early elections are held in September.

“I have decided to ask the president to release me from my duties and to give her the opportunity to try, together with the technocratic government, to firmly and peacefully lead Slovakia to democratic parliamentary elections,” he said at a televised press conference.

The governing coalition lost its majority last September after the departure of the SaS party, which later accused the government of not doing enough to help citizens with energy costs, which reached record levels in Europe last year.

Like other European countries, Slovakia has subsidized households and businesses to cushion the effects of high energy prices and, more broadly, inflation.

However, disagreements between coalition parties have paralyzed political life in the country, which is a member of NATO and the European Union and strongly supported neighboring Urania after the Russian invasion.

Source: Reuters, APE-MPE.