The leader of the Slovak Movement Igor Matovič called on the head of the PS Michal Šimečka and the PS itself to they did not make communication mistakes in the case of the civil association (OZ) Projekt Fórumwhich is run by his mother Marta Šimečková. Matovič pointed to the drop in preferences of the opposition parties PS, SaS, KDH and non-parliamentary Democrats in public opinion polls after irregularities in the accounts of the OZ came to light. According to Matovič, Šimečka should bring the entire opposition together in order to be able to replace the current government.
At Monday’s press conference, Matovič pointed to surveys by several agencies for the period from January 2025 to March 2026. According to him, the sharp drop in support for opposition parties occurred after January, as at that time they published an audit in the case of OZ Projekt Fórum. “The way the leader of the opposition and the representatives or the leadership of Progresívne Slovakia communicated this fraud to their voters was very important for the ambush itself,” declared Matovič. According to him, Šimečka was “delusional” that the fraud did not happen and that it was only an administrative error.
The Slovakian Movement called on PS representatives to start behaving responsibly towards the country and towards their partners in the opposition. According to Matovič, Šimečka underestimated his voters. “If the opposition as a whole does not join forces with our movement, we will not achieve anything,” declared Matovič, saying that when the leader of the opposition makes fundamental communication mistakes, the current government will “pop the champagne”.
The government audit regarding the use of public subsidies also revealed deficiencies in the civil association Projekt Fórumin which Marta Šimečková is a statutory member. In March, the police started a new criminal investigation in connection with the Forum Project on suspicion of subsidy fraud. Šimečková declared that she never got rich from this association, but, on the contrary, got into debt to keep the project going. She is ready to bear the legal consequences.
Šimečka claims that he has nothing to do with the case, and the documents show that his mother did not commit any fraud either. He also stated that his mother is ready to bear the consequences in case of financial shortfalls. Šimečka says that as PS chairman he has a fresh mandate from the movement’s recent congress and will continue in office.
In response, the PS repeated that Matovič thus helps Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in his attacks. “Every time Robert Fico needs help with his dirty attacks, Igor Matovič appears and faithfully helps him in them. It was his chaotic government that helped Robert Fico come back from the political grave and form another government,” Zuzana Mesterová, president of the PS parliamentary club, responded to TASR.
However, Igor Matovič has not learned his lesson, and his main interest is still to get into the center of attention,” she said. According to her, Matovič and Fico need each other. “And Slovakia needs to move forward, without Robert Fico and without Igor Matovič,” she added.
