The long-running crisis in the Slovak government entered its final phase on Saturday September 30, 2023. Slovakia elects new parliamentary composition. Elections to the National Council of the Slovak Republic (NR SR) was implemented prematurely, otherwise regular elections would have been held at the end of 2024. We followed Saturday’s election day in an online report here. We follow the vote count and results here:

Novinky.cz also prepared a special election studio for readers, where moderators Eva Mikulecká and Michael Rozsypal discussed the latest election results with guests:

This election offers competition from a number of former heads of government. And also many parties are around the threshold to enter parliament in the elections. Slovakia has long faced high rates of vote loss.

He ranks high in opinion polls Direction – social democracy lead with by Robert Fitz, who ultimately won the election. He was prime minister in 2006–2010 and 2012–2018. Also Peter Pellegrinileader Voice – Social Democracy, who has served as head of government. In 2020, he founded Hlas together with other MPs who were initially selected as Steering.

Eduard Heger became party chairman in March 2023 Democratcovering the doctor’s back from the second position Andrea Letanovská. The coalition heads to the election with personnel changes OĽANO and friends. It is led by the chairman of the Žilina Region Erika Jurinova. He only ran for last place, 150th Igor Matovic. Towards the end of the list is Veronika Remišová, deputy head of the Matovič and Heger government and head of the party. For people.

Vice President of the European Parliament Michal Šimečka led Progressive Slovakia. In 2020, the party of which Zuzana Čaputová was vice president failed to reach parliament in coalition by only a thousand votes. For the return of politics in the group Blue, Most – Híd try Nicholas Dzurindawho had run the government between 1998 and 2006.

Other parties from the Matovič and Heger governments also ran. We are Family again led by the Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollar. He recently faced an impeachment effort over accusations that he had hit his former partner, but due to the low number of lawmakers, the emergency meeting was repeatedly not opened. A leader SaS Again Richard Sulikwho with his resignation underscored the instability of the government and began an exodus of ministers.

From the current opposition, this party also wants to maintain its position in parliament Kotlebovci – Our Slovak People’s Party. He is the leader on the list Marek Kotleba, brother of longtime chairman Marian Kotleba. He lost his mandate in 2022 after being found guilty of distributing checks with Nazi symbols. At the time of the election, he was still on probation with a six-month suspended sentence. Several former party representatives are now active on the extreme right wing Republicled by an MEP Milan Uhrik.

In the summer of 2022, the ruling party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) ended the coalition agreement and gave an ultimatum to Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽANO). Either Finance Minister Igor Matovič will leave the government, or his ministers will resign.

However Matovič, who is also chairman of OĽANO and a former prime minister, remains in the cabinet. The government remains in the minority, the SaS called a vote of no confidence in the government in December and supported its downfall. Matovič left the government just a week later, when the SaS supported the proposed budget for next year.

Governments that distrusted Slovakia remained in power until a new government was appointed. However, for the time being, he should not be involved in fundamental questions of domestic, foreign or economic policy. He can fill the positions of state officials only with the approval of the president.

Impossible to add new members to the dismissed government, Heger’s cabinet was thinned by further resignations. In May, President Zuzana Čaputová appointed Slovakia’s first “official” government. Ľudovít Ódor, previously deputy governor of the Slovak National Bank, became its chairman. The cabinet, which consists of non-partisans, has not yet gained the trust of parliament, so this cabinet also governs with limited power.

Previously, early general elections were required by constitutional law and were valid only once. Today, the Slovak constitution, similar to the Czech constitution, permits dissolution on the proposal of three-fifths (90) of parliament. The news was prepared by deputies and immediately used for the 2023 elections.

The Smér-SD opposition, led by Robert Fice, wants to expand the constitution to include the possibility of closing the government through a national referendum. However, the referendum, in which Slovaks asked for these changes, was invalid due to low voter turnout.

The Slovak Parliament consists of one chamber. NR SR has 150 members elected for four years through proportional representation. The entire country forms one district, parties and coalitions can nominate up to 150 people in the at-large vote. Up to four preferential votes may be awarded to a particular candidate. They need to continue to monitor the distribution of mandates

In 2020, 820,000 valid votes were lost (nearly 28.5% of all votes). This number is the highest in Slovakia’s history. The winning party Ordinary People and Independent Figures (OĽANO) received one hundred thousand fewer votes.

In parliamentary elections, you can vote by post. This option applies to Slovak citizens who have permanent residence abroad or were outside Slovakia at the time of the election. In both cases, it is necessary to be registered first on a special voter list. Applications must be submitted no later than August 9

Then voters accept everything for the election. The ballots state unequivocally that they support this election. It is not possible to use it at polling stations. You can print tickets from Ministry of Home Affairs website. If there is more than one page of candidate details, they must be printed. Double-sided printing is recommended but not required.

Voters pay postage to send what’s called a return envelope, sending it to ministry address. You will receive confirmation via email that it has been sent. You can also bring it yourself and submit it to the ministry at the archives office. In both cases, voting must be at the ministry no later than 12:00 on Friday, September 29 (September)namely the last working day before the election.

In the previous parliamentary elections in 2020, almost 49,000 people voted from abroad, which was 1.67% of all votes cast. Fewer than four thousand of them are Slovaks who have permanent residence outside their homeland. The majority of these votes were cast by people living in Slovakia, who were abroad at the time of the election. However, there was a problem because some applicants did not receive tickets at all. Others received them too late to send shipments that should have arrived in Bratislava on time.