You managed to collect over half a million votes for a referendum on snap elections in record time. Why should the voters decide on the government in a referendum, when they already do so in regular elections? Doesn’t this go against the logic of parliamentary democracy? It does not. A political system needs stability, to follow the regular election cycle, but also legitimacy, the legitimacy of its elected officials. When the legitimacy of elected officials is put into question, the voters should have a way to make things right. The referendum on the shortened election term is a justified and meaningful solution of situations like that.
Isn’t a referendum on snap elections an added burden, seeing how “stable” the Slovakian Government is right now?
The petition is a direct answer to the demands of citizens and voters. It would have never come to be, were it not for their suggestions, support, activity, and cooperation. Nor would it have been so successful. This petition for a referendum is not an act of the politicians or political parties, but an act of the people. Therefore, it certainly is not an added burden. On the contrary, we are very proud that the Slovakian people have openly expressed their opinion, shown their government what it’s doing wrong, and taken an active part in decision-making regarding their country. What more could we wish for?
Historically, the only referendum that had enough turnout to be valid was the one on the entry into the European Union. Why do you think you should succeed where others have failed?
If success comes, it will not be of ours but of the Slovakian people. That is what this is all about, and the point we have been trying to get across this whole time. By supporting the petition and the referendum, you are not voting for the HLAS party. The goal is to remove the government that is causing damage to the interests of Slovakia and its citizens. People can feel this, they want to change things, and that is why there is a chance that this referendum will be successful. The single point of failure is the stance that the government parties take on this issue. Some of them may dissuade their voters from participating in the referendum. I feel that obstructions such as that are in direct opposition to the support of democracy. Any parties that resort to such measures will end up paying for it sooner or later.
In case there are early elections, can you imagine forming a government with the SMER party which you and your colleagues left?
Our stance on giving comment on any future coalitions is known. We do not give opinions in advance on any future coalitions because we feel that would be disrespectful to the voters. The cards are dealt by the people, and the politicians are responsible for finding the most viable solution for the country, no matter the hand they are dealt. One thing is clear, however, we are an anti-fascist party and will never cooperate with far-right extremists. As our chairman Peter Pellegrini mentioned several times, it may be good to look for peaceful and constructive solutions in these trying times. A country going through its most severe crisis since World War II certainly needs to. Such a solution could be a coalition that would unite Slovakia instead of dividing it. A coalition made up of today’s ruling and opposition parties as well as other parties that have no representation in the Parliament today. I could get behind a solution like that.
What is your opinion on Slovakia’s fight with the coronavirus as a medical doctor?
The current situation in Slovakia is best described by the fact that even though we came out of the first wave of the pandemic on top, we failed and ended up on the bottom rung in the second one. We have failed in many aspects, however, the thing that exacerbated the second wave the most was the megalomania and the individual decisions of the former Prime Minister Matovič. The first point of failure was a summer spent dawdling. Ministers were going on vacation, nothing was being done to prepare for the second wave. Due to the inability to further properly support contact tracing, it was discarded completely during the second wave. The new pandemic plan approved by the government lasted no more than a week in practice, after that nobody paid heed to it anymore. Key state hospitals took a long time to react, so private facilities had to come to the rescue.
And then comes this nationwide large-scale testing that was purported to be a weapon of mass destruction aimed at the coronavirus by the then prime minister and current minister of finance Matovič, who said that we will lead the whole world by example. All year long there were recommendations for treating the symptoms – with paracetamol and the like – but no specific treatment or drugs were ever provided to anyone. The infected had to treat themselves, they had to get their drugs illegally, smuggling them across the border. Throughout the pandemic, the minister of health would remove established directors – mostly medical doctors – from key state hospitals and replace them with political candidates whose expertise was often in completely different fields. People who were appointed hospital directors were for instance a forester, paratrooper, steelworker, church economist, and even a plastic window manufacturer convicted of financial crimes. It is no wonder then, that state facilities could not handle the initial impact and reprofiling, and that in spite of the pandemic plan, the first ones to be reprofiled were private hospitals with professional management.
The author works as an editor of the Deník paper
CV BOX
Richard Raši, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. (born April 2, 1971, in Košice) is an M.P. of the Slovakian National council and former minister of health, deputy chairman of the government, and mayor of Košice
He graduated in general medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. He then went through postgraduate certification in surgery with further specialization in trauma surgery. He earned the M.P.H. title in 2004 from the Slovak Medical University in Bratislava.
In 1995, he started working at the surgical trauma center of the Košice University Hospital. In 2007, he was named director of the University Hospital of Bratislava.
He entered the SMER-SD party in 2007 and had been a minister of health for a year from 2008. From December 2010 to March 2018, he was the mayor of Košice. During the years 2018 to 2020, he was the deputy chairman of the government for investments and information technologies.
Last year, after years in the SMER-SD party, he became one of the founders of the new left-wing party HLAS-SD. He is married with three daughters.
Košice and Prague
It is said that Košice is Slovakia’s most pro-Czech city. Is this true? “Košice was once an international city where four languages were used equally,” says Richard Raši. “That could be the reason for the liking that the people of Košice have taken to Prague, it gives them that international feeling. A kind of jealousy of Bratislava also comes into play. In times of Czechoslovakia, people in Košice used to say that stopping in Bratislava just delays you on your way to Prague. Why should you do your business in Bratislava, when all the important decisions were being made in Prague? That is why some say, even now, that Košice still treats Prague as the capital.”
With the former U.S. President, Donald Trump.
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