Candidate punches reporter

Bratislava, Slovakia

Former Slovak prime minister Vladimir Meciar was caught on video this week assaulting a reporter. Meciar, whose nationalist party looks to do well in elections this month, took offense when the reporter asked him where he got the money to build a lavish villa. He grabbed the reporter by the back of the neck and decked him. Afterward Meciar said he had acted in self-defense. “If you had colleagues who behaved decently,” he told journalists, “it might be possible to talk to them politely.” Two days later, the candidate stomped out of a live debate with his leading rival when the moderator again asked him about his villa.

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