Vice President of her National Bank SlovakiaLudovit Odor has been appointed prime minister after the resignation of the head of government, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova said today.

“I will appoint an interim government headed by Ludovit Odor, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia,” he told reporters after meeting with outgoing Prime Minister Eduard Heger, who resigned today.

A new prime minister, 46, the country’s deputy central bank governor, will be formally appointed next week, the president announced, to head a new government of technocrats.

Odor, who was appointed five months before early parliamentary elections scheduled for September 30, will become the third head of the Slovak government after the last elections in 2020.

“Of course, competence was the main criterion, but only persons who would not be candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections were selected,” said the president, who had “the goal of not giving preference to any political party in the current pre-election period.”

Tsaputova said in a televised address that she would appoint a new government after May 15.

The president added that the ministers had already been chosen but would not be appointed until May 15 because she would like to brief the parliamentary parties first. Until then, Acting Prime Minister Edward Heger must continue his work, he added.

The outgoing prime minister led an interim coalition government after his government lost a vote of confidence in parliament in December.

Heger today asked the president to cancel his term, citing differences with Tsaputova, after the political crisis escalated following the resignation of the agriculture minister on Thursday over a €1.4 million grant given to his company. The next day, the foreign minister also announced that he wanted to leave the government.

Source: APE/MEB