BRATISLAVA (SITA) - We are the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP) and our establishment has nothing to do with the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) led by Mr. Vladimír Mečiar, Košice Mayor Rudolf Schuster and one of the leading figures behind the newly founded party stated on Monday. He was reacting to a Monday statement by Roman Kováč, vice chair of the Democratic Union, one of the Slovak Democratic Coalition parties, who alleges that the SOP was established at the direct order of the Prime Minister and HZDS leader. Schuster said that if Kováč's opinion was intended as one of the maneuvers taken by those who could be SOP allies after the election, "we can only be sorry about it." However, he believes that Kováč was speaking for himself and not on behalf of the Democratic Union, "...for his [Kováč's] statements will be never confirmed," Schuster said.