On Thursday, Smer MEP Erik Kaliňák confirmed that the coalition is going to scrap the correspondence vote from abroad. The Chairman of the Board of Advisors to Prime Minister Robert Fico said that from now on, it will only be possible to vote from abroad at embassies. “It is ready, it was a joint cooperation of the government coalition,” Kaliňák said on the Infovojna portal. In his words, the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry should be thanked.
According to him, the changes are inspired by the Danish model where only citizens who have permanent residence in Denmark and are only temporarily abroad can vote from abroad. According to Kaliňák, however, in the case of Slovak changes, permanent residence in Slovakia will not be required when choosing an embassy abroad.
"The government is not preparing such a proposal, but that does not mean that coalition MPs are not discussing it," Prime Minister Fico said at a press conference on Wednesday during the away-from-home cabinet session in Smolenice in response to a question about the possible abolition of postal voting from abroad. He argued that voting through postal ballots can be manipulated, voters can be influenced, since they are not voting behind a curtain.
The opposition PS party finds that the planned changes will restrict voting rights. As its leader Michal Šimečka noted, Slovak citizens living abroad will have to visit the embassy and vote there.
"If this change happens, you will have to take a plane, train, or travel for long hours to be able to vote," said the PS leader. The party called on the Prime Minister and the government not to implement such changes to the law. In several foreign countries, there is no Slovak embassy operating.
The issue of changing voting from abroad was raised by the SNS in June last year, but at that time it received no support. Election laws fall under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry. Its spokesperson Matej Neumann stated that the Ministry does not plan to submit an amendment to the law that would regulate voting by mail from abroad.
77% of the 60 thousand people who voted from abroad in the past casted their ballots for the current opposition parties. Smer-SD received 6% of such votes.
“Constitutionally, the State has a margin of discretion to regulate these conditions according to the preferences of the lawmakers,“ claims Vincent Bujňák, a Comenius University expert on constitutional law.
”If these votes so to say disappeared, it probably wouldn't change the winner of the election”, AKO polling agency analyst Václav Hřích pointed out.
For now, it is possible to take part in general election from abroad. One of the arguments why to change this is the fact that it is not possible to elect the Slovak President from abroad.
Source: STVR
