Every voter should have an equal right to vote. Slovakia’s Public Defender of Rights Róbert Dobrovodský has drawn attention to disparities in the weight of votes cast by voters in Bratislava and Košice. He brought the issue before the Constitutional Court, which has already ruled that part of the legislation concerning Bratislava is unconstitutional.
In 2026, the priority is to ensure a more equal distribution of seats in Slovakia’s two largest cities. The problem stemmed from a rule requiring every city borough to have at least one representative on the municipal council, regardless of its population.
Dobrovodský explains why equal voting power matters: “This rule meant that in one part of an electoral district, 100 votes were enough for a candidate to be elected, while in another electoral district, even 1,000 votes were not enough.”
Constitutional lawyer Tomáš Majerčák says electoral districts must comply with the principle of equality. “If this were not in accordance with the principle of equality, it must be anticipated that any representative who felt aggrieved in this manner could file a petition with the Supreme Administrative Court to have the election reviewed. In such a case, the
election results would be annulled,” stated Majerčák.
The Košice City Council will have a total of 51 councillors across 14 electoral districts. According to a statement from the city: “The City Council has defined the electoral districts in such a way that, for the purposes of the elections, no small borough is combined with a large borough.”
Bratislava spokesperson Peter Bubla explains that the new electoral districts were established with the aim of making only the necessary changes to the previous arrangement. This means that boroughs with populations large enough to form their own electoral districts have retained separate districts. As Bubla informed, 11 electoral districts were created instead of the original 17, while the number of seats remained unchanged—that is, 45 representatives.
Changes have since been made not only to electoral districts within the two cities but also to those in the Košice Region.
Source: STVR
