Andrej Danko, leader of the far right Slovak SNS party, said during a political debate at public broadcaster RTVS  that he will run for president in the upcoming campaign. This raises the prospect of two of the  coalition leaders running against each other for president, following Hlas leader Peter Pellegrini's signals last week.

“I am going to tell you something exclusive: you’ve convinced me to go into a presidential fight,” Danko said, pointing at opposition leader Michal Simecka of the liberal Progressive Slovakia. “I will go against dirty and dangerous people like you”, he said.

Danko also added that if he doesn’t have enough backing, he will join forces with a nationalist candidate, mentioning former judge Stefan Harabin, who has already announced his intention to stand.

“If I see that I don’t have a strong nationalist voice, I will support another nationalist voice”, he said.  

Danko, whose SNS party is a junior member of the ruling populist coalition, has been under pressure after it transpired that he was involved in a late-night car accident on Thursday, January 11, damaging a traffic light in the Bratislava quarter of Dubravka and leaving the crash site without reporting it.

"Everyone with a driver's license knows that after causing a traffic accident, he should stay at the site, at least to rule out having drunk alcohol,” Simecka said about Danko, adding that PS would instigate a parliamentary session to eject Danko from the post of vice chair of the parliament.  

Danko dismissed questions about running into the traffic light while drunk. “I wasn’t drunk; I left because I was injured”, Danko stated, claiming that he was later tested for alcohol by police.

In the “Na telo” televised debate at commercial television Markiza, Minister of Regional Development Richard Rasi of the centre-left Hlas, SNS’ coalition partner, called on Danko to show the alcohol test “to disperse all the doubts”.  

Hlas’ leader Peter Pellegrini is set to confirm his presidential bid following a party summit on January 19, and polls indicate Pellegrini would likely head for a runoff with ex-minister of foreign affairs Ivan Korcok, who is likely to attract strong support from opposition parties, including PS. Pellegrini will be backed by Prime Minister Robert Fico's leftist populist Smer party, and his victory will consolidate the government's control over the main political institutions.

SNS legislator Roman Michelko told RTVS it is not clear whether the 10 SNS legislators would back Harabin.  “I think that nine out of 10 legislators would have an issue with it”, Michelko said.

Following the September 30 national elections, a wide array of SNS candidates entered the parliament, with the majority not being SNS party members and coming from obscure ultranationalist or Christian fundamentalist circles and organisations, rendering the SNS legislators less predictable as a whole and a potential weak link in the coalition. Danko himself has become something of a loose cannon, including making insinuations about his coalition partner Pellegrini's sexuality as a reason not to support his candidacy. 

Fico's ruling coalition of Smer, its breakaway party Hlas and SNS has a narrow majority of 79 legislators in the parliament of 150, and therefore relies on the 10 SNS legislators to pass its sweeping legislative measures introduced since November.  

A presidential candidate needs the backing of at least 15 legislators or present signatures of at least 15,000 citizens, such as Korcok did, to enter the popular vote.