Slovakia ruling party offers Interior Ministry to non-partisan

Demonstrators attend a protest rally in reaction to the murder of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, in Bratislava, Slovakia, March 16, 2018. REUTERS/David W. Cerny

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia's ruling party sought on Monday to avert an election by offering the job of Interior Minister to a non-partisan official, to investigate the murder of a journalist whose death caused a crisis that brought down Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Fico, head of the ruling Smer party and prime minister for 10 of the last 12 years, resigned last week in the face of the biggest anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Communism in 1989, triggered by the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, 27, who was investigating government corruption.