Slovak Government Resigned over Sputnik V Vaccine Purchase Agreement

This step allows the current ruling coalition to remain in power. Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic and his government have resigned to ease the political crisis caused by a secret deal to buy the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. This is the first European government to fall due to the pandemic, but the resignation allows the four parties current coalition remain in power and avoid early elections. President Zuzana Čaputova accepted prime minister’s resignation and asked Eduard Heger from Matović's Ordinary People Party to form a new government. The crisis emerged in early March when information surfaced about a secret deal involving Slovakia's agreement to purchase 2 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. The populist prime minister arranged the deal despite discordance between coalition partners.