Another referendum on the horizon?

A few days after the unsuccessful referendum on traditional family held on 7 February, a debate on another plebiscite has been launched. Igor Matovič of the Ordinary People party is preparing a referendum on lowering the referendum's quorum (which is currently 50 percent of the eligible voters) in order to make ensuring its validity easier, Hospodarske Noviny daily reports on Wednesday. As the daily writes, Matovič as the initiator would like to ask people dozens of questions, mainly on corruption. Experts are critical of Matovič's idea. According to political analyst Michal Horský, another referendum would indicate that political culture in Slovakia is with its niveau somewhere in the underground. Grigorij Mesežnikov from the Public Affairs Institute said that this move would definitely degrade the public perception of the plebiscite. The final list of questions to be asked in the referendum is not ready yet - it should come from a public debate, which Matovič would like to launch in the near future. As Mesežnikov said, the questions discussed so far should rather be dealt with by politicians than in a referendum. President Andrej Kiska also warned against using the referendum imprudently, noting that a referendum shouldn't became an ideological or political tool of pressure and propaganda.