Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak has resigned, bowing to the demands of a junior coalition partner, as Prime Minister Robert Fico fights to save his government after mass protests following a journalist's murder.
Mr Fico is seeking to keep his coalition government together after the murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak shocked the country and saw the biggest street protests in decades on Friday.
Mr Kuciak investigated fraud cases involving politically connected businessmen. His death has stoked public anger over corruption.
Junior government party, the Most-Hid (Bridge) group, had demanded Mr Fico dismiss Mr Kalinak, a founding member of Fico's Smer party, by today.
Critics say Mr Kalinak, who oversaw the police as interior minister, could not guarantee an independent investigation into the killing of Mr Kuciak and his fiancée in late February.
The Most-Hid group welcomed the resignation although its leader, Bela Bugar, declined to comment when asked whether it would be enough for his party to remain in the coalition.
"The national council always decides. In such cases it has the final word," Mr Bugar told reporters.
Mr Kalinak told a news conference he made his decision independently.
"It's important for stability to be maintained, therefore I decided to resign the post of deputy prime minister and interior minister," mr Kalinak said.
"I think I will do more for the investigators not to be disturbed in their work if I resign," he said.
In the largest demonstrations since the fall of communism in 1989, an estimated 50,000 people rallied in the capital Bratislava on Friday and thousands more in other cities, demanding the resignation of Mr Fico's cabinet and a thorough investigation of Mr Kuciak's death.
Before he was shot dead, Mr Kuciak had been investigating Italian businessmen in Slovakia with suspected mafia links.
One of the Italians that Mr Kuciak wrote about had co-owned firms with two Slovaks who went on to work in Mr Fico's office.
Both have resigned but deny links to the murder. Their Italian former business partner denies connections to the mafia. No one has been charged over the killings.
