Bratislava, 7 May 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger resigned as head of a caretaker government on Sunday, citing differences with President Zuzana Čaputová as the reason.

Heger said he had asked Čaputová to be relieved of his office on the grounds that she had not accepted any of his proposals on governing through the current political crisis in the period up to parliamentary elections set for September 30.

Two of his ministers have resigned over recent days. Čaputová will now have the option of installing a government of technocrats.

Heger's populist conservative government has been a staunch backer of Ukraine in combating the Russian invasion, but this support is one of the few issues on which it has the support of the president and a majority in parliament.

The parties in Heger's coalition are facing heavy losses in the elections, and Heger has warned that parties opposed to military support for Ukraine could be boosted.

Heger's government lost its majority in the summer of last year and was toppled by a vote of no confidence in December. He has governed with restricted powers since.

The president tasked him with arranging early elections, but Heger has delayed them to the end of September as polls predict a serious defeat for him and his party.

Heger has warned repeatedly that the Social Democrats that he has criticized as corrupt could return to power.

Photo: MIA archive