The inaugural session of parliament, which will instate Robert Fico as prime minister and launch the start of the 4-year term of Smer-SD party majority rule, will take place on 4 April, President Ivan Gasparovic announced yesterday after agreeing on the date with incumbent parliamentary speaker Pavol Hrusovsky.
President Gasparovic has already met with the PM in waiting, with whom he has had many years of trouble-free collaboration. The president even noted how he hoped that the political culture under Robert Fico would be different from that witnessed under the outgoing government, which has been caretaking since it fell over a confidence motion in October 2011. The President is expected to entrust Robert Fico with forming the new government tomorrow.
The inaugural parliamentary session will see all 150 elected MPs taking their oaths, together with election of parliamentary speaker and deputy speakers, and the allocation of posts in the various parliamentary committees, which Robert Fico says will include a fair share of opposition representatives.