Bratislava, Sep 17 (IANS): The Slovak Parliament dismissed Michal Simecka as Deputy Speaker in a secret ballot on Tuesday, local media reported.

Among 77 members of parliament present for the vote, one ballot was declared invalid and the other 76 members voted for Simecka's dismissal, according to the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR). Many members of the 150-seat parliament were absent from the vote.

A special parliamentary session was held last week to discuss the removal of Simecka, leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia Party. The motion was initiated by members of the Direction-Social Democracy Party and the Slovak National Party, two of the three parties forming the coalition government.

According to TASR, the primary reasons cited for the vote against Simecka were the abuse of state subsidies by individuals close to the opposition party leader and suspicions of manipulation in the allocation of these subsidies.

Simecka, however, rejected the criticism, describing the proposal as retaliation for his effective performance as an opposition leader, Xinhua news agency reported.

Simecka was one of the four Deputy Speakers of the Slovak Parliament. The position of Parliament speaker remains vacant after former speaker Peter Pellegrini was sworn in as the country's president in mid-June.