Addressing the press after the committee's session in Ljubljana, DeSUS head Karl Erjavec said that the party had expected Simčič to resign himself but that he had chosen not to do that.
Erjavec had also expected that Simčič would give an explanation after media started reporting about his alleged forgery of a school report.
This makes DeSUS the second coalition party with one MP less than at the start of the term after MP Ivan Vogrin quit the Virant List deputy group, also over involvement in a scandal. From now on, DeSUS will have only 5 MPs.
Like Vogrin, Simčič will most probably also become an independent MP.
Erjavec said Simčič had told him when they met on Monday that in case the committee decides to exclude him, he would become an independent MP and prove his innocence.
Simčič, Erjavec and DeSUS have been under strong pressure from the media and the public after POP TV reported in mid-February that Simčič's secondary school certificate is fake and that he lost his job in the Slovenian Armed Forces over this.
He was asked to provide an explanation by both the parliamentary speaker and corruption watchdog, but he has been merely denying the allegations all along.
