From dx-adm-owner@nic.funet.fi Fri Oct 7 00:41:17 1994 Received: from nic.funet.fi (root@nic.funet.fi [128.214.248.6]) by cs.tut.fi (8.6.9/8.6.4) with ESMTP id AAA14231 for ; Fri, 7 Oct 1994 00:41:16 +0200 Received: from voa3.VOA.GOV ([152.75.16.3]) by nic.funet.fi with SMTP id <91563-2>; Fri, 7 Oct 1994 00:38:49 +0200 Received: from voa6.VOA.GOV by voa3.VOA.GOV (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19713; Thu, 6 Oct 94 18:38:31 EDT Message-Id: <9410062238.AA19713@voa3.VOA.GOV> Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 20:30:58 +0200 From: jfouts@usia.gov Subject: VOA Examines Slovak Elections To: voa-info@bops.VOA.GOV Status: RO ******************************************************* Return-path: Received: From voa3.VOA.GOV(152.75.16.3) by voa6(152.75.16.6) With TCP ; 6 Oct 94 18:25:18 Received: from usia.gov (XGATE.USIA.GOV) by voa3.VOA.GOV (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA19511; Thu, 6 Oct 94 18:24:31 EDT Received: from NetWare MHS (SMF70) by usia.gov via XGATE 3.01.b16C MHS to SMTP Gateway; Thu, 6 Oct 94 18:25:43 -0500 Message-Id: <8562942E01E3D2D1@usia.gov> In-Reply-To: <506A942E02E3D2D1> Date: Thu, 6 Oct 94 18:03:14 -0500 Sender: "Fouts, Joshua" Organization: USIA X-Mailer: XGATE 3.01.b16C MHS to SMTP Gateway XNS-Gateway-ID: <8562942E01E3D2D1@usia.gov.325831D6.15A> ******************************************************* VOA Examines the Slovak Elections Washington, D.C., October 7, 1994 -- On October 6, the Voice of America's Slovak Service held a roundtable discussion about the results of the general elections in the Slovak Republic that were held on September 30 and October 1 and their implications for the future of that country. During the election, 17 parties vied for 150 seats in the parliament of the Slovak Republic. Vladimir Meciar, chairman of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, received the majority of the votes. If he is able to form a coalition with one or more of the other parties, it will mark a shift from the centrist policies of the present government to more radical policies of the left and right of the political spectrum. Roundtable participants expressed their hope that Slovak politics will become more issue-oriented and focus on the needs of Slovak citizens and the need to speed up the pace of privatization. They also discussed the possibility that the Slovak Republic will be unable to form a strong government since no one party received a majority. This could in turn affect the economic and political stability of Central Europe. Participants in the roundtable discussion were Dr. Mark Stolarik, University of Ottawa, Ontario; Dr. Miroslav Kusy, University of North Carolina; Dr. Tatiana Szomolanyi, Director, Public Opinion Research Institute, Bratislava, Slovak Republic; Dr. J. Alner, columnist for the Narodna Obroda daily in Bratislava; Dr. Pavel Haulik, Director, Research Cabinet of the Slovak Radio; and Ivan Rajecky, VOA stringer in Bratislava. The roundtable was broadcast at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 UTC). VOA's Slovak Service airs two programs daily from 1 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. EDT (0500-0530 UTC) and from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT (1800-1900 UTC). The Voice of America is the international radio service of the U.S. Information Agency, broadcasting almost 1,000 hours a week in 45 languages. VOA direct short wave and medium wave broadcasts reach approximately 92 million listeners. One in five listeners tunes in VOA Worldwide English broadcasts; the rest listen to VOA language service broadcasts. This estimate does not include listeners who tune in VOA programs rebroadcast by approximately 1,100 affiliate radio stations around the world and greatly expands VOA's listening audience. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE VOA Office of External Affairs Contact Person: George Mackenzie Phone: +1-202-619-3919 Internet: PUBAFF@VOA.GOV