A petition commission plans to submit signatures collected for a referendum on early election to President Zuzana Caputova next Wednesday (August 24), head of the petition commission Igor Melicher (Smer-SD) told TASR on Thursday. Up to 400,000 signatures have been collected so far, with the precise number to be announced on Wednesday. "The referendum on the resignation of the Government and a change in the Slovak Constitution is the only democratic way to resolve the deep crisis into which Slovakia has been badly steered by the incompetent and divided coalition," claimed Smer-SD chair Robert Fico. In a video released on a social network together with far-right party Republic chair Milan Uhrik, Fico called on the president not to attempt to thwart the referendum.
Uhrik added that the Republic party has joined the initiative because only cultivated and constructive cooperation among the opposition can effectuate change.
The president has already announced that she would challenge the question on the instant resignation of the Government at the Constitutional Court over suspicions of unconstitutionality. If the court decides that this portion is unconstitutional, she would call only for a referendum on shortening the current elected term.
Source: TASR
