Low turnout expected for anti-gay referendum

Only 36 percent of people plan to take part in the referendum on the family, rendering it invalid, according to a representative poll by the Political Science Department of Trenčín-based Alexander Dubcek University. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,005 respondents between December 20 and January 15 and the results were announced on Wednesday. The poll also sought people's answers to the three questions to be included in the referendum, which is being initiated by the Alliance for Family (AZR). Eighty-four percent of those asked would agree with confining the use of the word 'marriage' only when referring to the union of a man and a woman - which constitutes the referendum's first question. As for the second question, 73 percent of the respondents would agree to preventing same-sex couples from adopting children. Close to 70 percent said that they would respond in the affirmative to the third question on stopping schools from requiring that pupils attend classes dealing with sex education and euthanasia if their parents don't approve of it. In terms of regions, people living in the Prešov region showed the greatest deal of interest in taking part in the vote - 46 percent. The same was true for only 27 percent of people in Bratislava region. The highest proportion of people - 45 percent - who are planning to take part in the vote was measured in those aged 70 and above. The upcoming referendum scheduled for February 7 will be the eighth referendum in the history of independent Slovakia, however only one - involving Slovakia's EU membership - was valid. Reaching 52.1 percent, that was the only referendum out of seven to have a turnout exceeding 50 percent so far.