organs and members…decided to accept his candidacy for the post of president of the Slovak Republic," the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) said in a statement. Mečiar‘s nomination was announced on the last possible day for candidates to declare themselves. Slovakia will hold presidential elections on May 15 after more than a year without a head of state. When Michal Kováč left office in March last year at the end of his five-year term, no potential successor could muster the three-fifths majority needed in a parliamentary vote, and parliament was too bitterly divided to agree on a compromise candidate. The new government decided to change the constitution to allow the voters to choose the president by a direct ballot. Mečiar was premier three times between 1990 and 1998, but both domestic opponents and Western critics took issue with what they they saw as his use of undemocratic methods to sideline opponents and stay in power. The coalition has said it will support the candidacy of R. Schuster, mayor of Slovakia‘s second largest city Košice and leader of one of the governing parties. The list of candidates includes the former Czechoslovak ambassador to Austria, actress M. Vášáryova.