Slovak Health Minister Marek Krajci resigned on March 11 as Prime Minister Igor Matovic battled to save his faltering coalition government, which is crumbling under the stress of handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slovakia is currently suffering the second worst daily death rate in the world and the government has come under great criticism for failing to get a grip on the problem. Just recently the crisis came to a head when the prime minister procured 2mn doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, despite the opposition of his coalition partner the For the People party. Sputnik V has yet to receive approval by the EU's European Medicines Agency. 

Krajci, of the prime minister's populist OLaNO party,  said his resignation was a condition of the junior centre-right coalition parties For the People and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) remaining in the government. He plans to step down gradually. 

Matovic said that he appreciates Krajci's move as the coalition was close to breaking- up. The new health minister has not been announced yet. 

"In these difficult times for Slovakia, I want the new minister to be together with the current minister in office for a few weeks, so that the transfer of power and responsibility is smooth so that it doesn't affect the protection of health and lives," said the PM, adding that Krajci will leave when the vaccination with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine starts.

Opposition parties have demanded early elections. The leader of the extra-parliamentary Voice-SD party and former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said he considers Krajci´s resignation just a continuation of the theatrical performance of the governing coalition.

"This isn't an attempt to honestly self-reflect on himself by the minister, who failed fatally in his office, but a political victim for the continuation of the governing coalition that has lost the trust of the people of Slovakia a long time ago," he said.

According to OLaNO caucus chairman Michal Sipos, if the politicians had followed Krajci's proposals, the pandemic situation in Slovakia wouldn't have been so bad. "We're sorry that the one who wanted more measures is leaving and those who questioned everything remain," he said.

Coalition parties have said there is a new deal on future co-operation but no details have been released, despite what rightwing populist We Are Family chair Boris Kollar and SaS chair Richard Sulik claimed earlier in the day.

“SaS chairman Richard Sulik is convinced that the agreement [between the coalition partners] … will contribute to the normalisation of relations in the coalition. The agreement will include a memorandum of good governance,” read SaS's statement on Facebook.