Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollar has posted on a social network that he wants to include in the special July House session a procedural proposal to change legislation in order to enable a referendum on a snap election to be announced. He believes that the referendum might be held in the autumn. He claimed this is a response to the ruling of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday (July 7) and a subsequent statement made by President Zuzana Caputova.
Kollar's spokeswoman Michaela Jurcova informed on Thursday that he will submit a proposal for changes to the Constitution in connection with the referendum as soon as possible since he is currently considering legislative options.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) said in response to Kollar's ambition that his proposal to amend the Constitution should be discussed by the Coalition Council. The co-governing Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party views the question of amending the Constitution in order to enable a referendum on a snap election as premature, as a similar opposition proposal was recently rejected by Parliament and the rules of procedure allow a new one to be submitted in late December at the earliest.
The junior governing For the People party does not see any reason to change the Slovak Constitution, said party vice-chair Juraj Seliga on Thursday, adding that amending the Constitution is a bad idea that should not be dealt with via fast-track legislative proceedings.
At a press conference on Thursday, the opposition Smer-SD party leader Robert Fico addressed the Government and its head Eduard Heger with a proposal to amend the Constitution. The party wants to add to the Constitution the provision that the election term of MPs can be shortened via a referendum. Fico mentioned a society-wide and political consensus on the need for a referendum. Smer-SD wants its proposal to be discussed at an extraordinary meeting that is set to begin on July 22.
President Zuzana Caputova said on Wednesday (July 7) that she would announce a referendum on an early election if Parliament decided to amend the Constitution and subsequently adopted a resolution requesting a referendum. She described this as one of the possible solutions following the decision of the Constitutional Court that the proposed referendum question on shortening Parliament's term in office was not in line with the Constitution.
Source: TASR
