The ban on publishing relevant public opinion polls before elections in Slovakia has been extended from 14 days to 50 days, MPs decided on Monday. The provision will also concern the general election due at the end of February next year. Its supporters from the largest governing coalition's party Smer argue that opinion polls influence voters who may decide on "who has a bigger chance" based on the percentages shown by the polls. The newly passed regulation has, however, already triggered criticism. "It will probably end up at the Constitutional Court", said co-governing Most-Hid MP Peter Kresak and opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Alojz Baranik. It may breach voters' right to have access to information in order to decide how to cast their ballot. Instead of extending the moratorium, Kresak said that he would have liked to shorten it to a mere two days, as proposed by Independent MP Katarina Csefalvayová. Opposition OLaNO chief Igor Matovič said that even though he does not view the law as correct, he does not deem it unconstitutional.
"Slovakia will be a great rarity in the world. There are few countries that have such a long moratorium. Surveys will be published abroad, on foreign websites, for example in the Czech media, and Slovak voters will have access to it. Political parties will continue to have access to data from opinion polls and will run their campaign accordingly while voters who many make up their mind at the last minute don't have access to such data. I do not understand how this law is to achieve the desired goal", said political analyst Daniel Kerekes. Extending the moratorium on public opinion polls before the elections from 14 to 50 days is one of the worst changes ever approved by the Slovak Parliament, according to political analyst Grigorij Mesežnikok. "This way political parties have given themselves the right to have exclusive access to information while citizens are banned from accessing it. It's a huge scandal. I find it also symbolic that this amendment to the law was approved by parliament on the eve of the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution from November 1989," he said, adding the Constitutional Court should have its say on the amendment.
The new bill has yet to be approved by President Zuzana Čaputová before coming into force. If she rejects it, and it returns to Parliament, then an absolute majority of MPs have to vote for its approval.
