The President of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, will issue a declaration to call a referendum on January 21, 2023 to ask citizens about a constitutional reform that would allow early elections, since this option is not provided for in the country’s Constitution.
«The declaration of the referendum is an expression of respect for the will of the citizens, taking into account the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic. I set Saturday, January 21, 2023 as the date of the referendum,» the Slovak president explained in a statement on Thursday.
The citizens will have to answer the question: «Do you agree that the early termination of the election period of the National Council of the Slovak Republic may be carried out by a referendum or a resolution of the National Council, namely by amending the Constitution of the Slovak Republic?»
Caputova’s action is in response to a citizen petition received last August 24, as well as requests on the part of the opposition, in particular the Direction-Social Democracy party, led by Social Democrat Robert Fico.
In this way, Social-Democratic-Direction has affirmed that, as it is currently not possible to hold early parliamentary elections, this can only be achieved by changing the Constitution through a referendum, but has denied that this initiative is some kind of electoral campaign.
«We are the only country in the world that does not know how to organize early elections, because it is said that it is not written in the Constitution, Fico has explained at a press conference, as reported by the news portal Teraz.
Even if a government breaks up and a majority cannot be found to form a new coalition, the Slovak Parliament cannot be dissolved, as in other countries, to allow for new early elections, as reported by DPA.
