Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovi? has formally resigned following a secret deal to buy Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine which triggered a month-long government crisis.
The Slovakian government confirmed Matovi?’s resignation on Tuesday after a meeting with the country’s president Zuzana ?aputová.
The political crisis erupted when a secret deal came to light three weeks ago involving Slovakia’s agreement to acquire two million doses of the jab, Al Jazeera reported.
Reports revealed that Matovi? announced that the country had the first shipment of an expected 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine which has not been cleared by European Union regulators in late February.
This came after the Slovakian Prime Minister secretly met a Slovakian military jet that secretly took off for Moscow shipping the vaccine in the dead of night without informing other top government officials.
This resulted into increased political pressure, forcing Matovi? to step down from his position for mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Other reports indicated that about six ministers, including the health minister already departed from the 16-member Cabinet, and one party announced that it will no longer be a part of the four-party coalition unless Matovic quits the government entirely.
On Sunday, Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic offered to resign from his post and swap places with Finance Minister Eduard Heger.
Meanwhile, the country’s former deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Eduard Heger, has been tasked with forming a new government to avoid an early election. The appointment has received approval from Slovakia’s coalition partners, according to Slovakia government.
Slovakia was also the second EU member, after Hungary, to purchase vaccine doses from Russia.
The country currently has the second-highest COVID-19 death rate in the EU, after initially surviving the first wave of the pandemic without severe case numbers.