BRATISLAVA: Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovic resigned on Tuesday following heavy criticism in the ex-communist country of his decision to buy Russian vaccines and of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in general.

President Zuzana Caputova nominated Finance Minister Eduard Heger to replace him at a ceremony involving all three politicians in the capital Bratislava that was broadcast live on Slovak television.

“When one year takes ten years of your life ... It was an honour and thank you,” Matovic wrote on Facebook before the ceremony.

As it battles one of the highest Covid death rates in the world, Slovakia has been stuck in a political crisis ever since Matovic staged a press conference in front of a delivery of Sputnik V vaccines on March 1.

Matovic, a former businessman in the publishing industry, came to power last year after beating the governing populists on an anti-corruption platform.

While supporters viewed him as a maverick with a knack for self-promotion, critics accuse Matovic of being an unpredictable, attention-seeking control freak.

He has said he would like to stay on in the cabinet as the new finance minister but some coalition allies want him to be out of the government entirely. During the pandemic in Slovakia, a eurozone country of 5.4 million people, Matovic’s critics have accused him of poor communication and political missteps.