New Slovak government wins confidence vote in parliament

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – Slovakia’s new government has won a confidence vote in parliament amid the political crisis sparked by the slayings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.

Prime Minister Robert Fico’s three-party coalition stepped down following large street protests sparked by the shooting deaths of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova a month ago. Kuciak was investigating possible widespread government corruption.

President Andrej Kiska swore in a new Cabinet on Thursday made up of the same three parties from Fico’s government.

In Monday’s vote, 81 lawmakers in the 150-seat legislature voted in favour of the government to rule.

In a separate development, a prosecutor said Monday that circumstances in the deaths suggest it was a contract killing and the two were killed on Feb. 21. Their bodies were found four days later.