PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2020) Slovakia's Prime Minister Igor Matovic survived on Friday a motion of no confidence lodged by opposition lawmakers of the country's parliament over alleged plagiarism in his university thesis.
The motion was requested by the opposition following reports alleging that Matovic plagiarized most of his thesis at Bratislava's Comenius University in 1998. The prime minister confirmed on Facebook last week that he used works of other authors while preparing thesis, noting that he was not aware of any wrongdoing and could not say for sure how many pieces of the text were plagiarized.
Only 47 of the 125 present lawmakers in the 150-seat parliament voted in support of Matovic's resignation. The result did not come unexpected, as the coalition led by Matovic hold a majority in the parliament.
Matovic' Ordinary People party won Slovakia's parliamentary election on February 29. The prime minister established a coalition government with the Freedom and Solidarity party, the conservative For People party, and right-wing We Are Family party.
In 2019, Matovic demanded resignation of then-speaker of the country's parliament Andrej Danko, who was also found to have plagiarism in his thesis.
