Politics of Slovakia

Slovakia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Slovakia

Constitution Constitution Constitutional Court Government President Ivan Gašparovič Government Prime Minister Iveta Radičová National Council National Council Speaker Pavol Hrušovský Elections Parliamentary 2010 Presidential 2009 European 2009 Political parties Political parties Smer · SDKÚ · SaS KDH · Most · SNS SMK–MKP · HZDS Divisions Regions Districts Municipalities Foreign Policy Foreign relations Relations with Hungary Politics of the EU

Other countries · Atlas Politics portal

Politics of Slovakia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the parliament and it can be exerced in some cases also by the government or directly by citizens. Executive power is exercised by the government led by the Prime Minister. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The President is the head of the state.

Legal system

The Constitution of the Slovak Republic was ratified 1 September 1992 and became effective 1 October 1992 (some parts 1 January 1993). It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements. The civil law system is based on Austro-Hungarian codes. The legal code was modified to comply with the obligations of Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to expunge the Marxist-Leninist legal theory. Slovakia accepts the compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction with reservations.

Executive branch

Main office holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Ivan Gašparovič	independent	15 June 2004
Prime Minister	Iveta Radičová	Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party	8 July 2010

The president is the head of state and the formal head of the executive, though with very limited powers. The president is elected by direct, popular vote, under the two round system, for a five-year term.

Following National Council elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the president. Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister has to receive the majority in the parliament. From July 2006 till July 2010 the coalition consisted of Smer, SNS and HZDS. After the 2010 elections a coalition was formed by the former opposition parties SDKÚ, KDH and Most–Híd and newcomer SaS.

Legislative branch

Slovakia's sole constitutional and legislative body is the 150-seat unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic. Delegates are elected for 4-year terms on the basis of proportional representation.

The National Council considers and approves the Constitution, constitutional statutes and other legal acts. It also approves the state budget. It elects some officials specified by law as well as the candidates for the position of a Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and the Prosecutor General. Prior to their ratification, the parliament should approve all important international treaties. Moreover, it gives consent for dispatching of military forces outside of Slovakia's territory and for the presence of foreign military forces on the territory of the Slovak Republic.

Political parties and elections

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal, equal, and direct suffrage by secret ballot.

Presidential election: The president is elected by direct, popular vote, under the two round system, for a five-year term. Two rounds of the last election were held on March 21 and April 4, 2009 (next to be held 2014).

Parliamentary election: Members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, the Narodna Rada, are elected directly for a 4-year term, under the proportional representation system. Like the Netherlands, the country is a single multi-member constituency. Voters may indicate their preferences within the semi-open list. The election threshold is 5%. Last elections were hold on June 12, 2010.

For other political parties see List of political parties in Slovakia. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Slovakia.

Main article: Slovak parliamentary election, 2010

 Summary of the 12 June 2010 Slovak National Council election results

Parties		Ideology	Votes	%	Seats	±
	Direction – Social Democracy	Social democracy	880,111	34.79	62	+12
	Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party	Conservatism	390,042	15.42	28	−3
	Freedom and Solidarity	Classical liberalism	307,287	12.14	22	*
	Christian Democratic Movement	Christian democracy	215,755	8.52	15	+1
	Most–Híd	Hungarian minority interest	205,538	8.12	14	*
	Slovak National Party	Slovak nationalism	128,490	5.07	9	−11
	Party of the Hungarian Coalition	Hungarian minority interest	109,638	4.33	0	−20
	People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia	National conservatism	109,480	4.32	0	−15
	Party of the Democratic Left	Democratic socialism	61,137	2.41	0	0
	People's Party – Our Slovakia	Nationalism	33,724	1.33	0	*
	Communist Party of Slovakia	Communism	21,104	0.83	0	0
	Union – Party for Slovakia	Conservatism	17,741	0.70	0	*
	Paliho Kapurková, Cheerful Political Party	Frivolous political party	14,576	0.57	0	*
	European Democratic Party	Pro-Europeanism	10,332	0.40	0	*
	New Democracy	National conservatism	7,962	0.31	0	*
	Party of the Roma Coalition	Roma minority interest	6,947	0.27	0	*
	Union of the Workers of Slovakia	Communism	6,196	0.24	0	0
	AZEN – Alliance for Europe of the Nations	National conservatism	3,325	0.13	0	*
Total (turnout 58.83%)			2,529,385	—	150	—
* Did not stand in previous election
Source: Statistics Bureau of Slovakia

Main article: Slovak presidential election, 2009

 Summary of the 21 March and 4 April 2009 Slovak presidential election results

Candidates and nominating parties	1st round		2nd round
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Ivan Gašparovič (Smer, SNS, HZD)	876,061	46.71	1,234,787	55.53
Iveta Radičová (SDKÚ–DS, SMK, KDH, OKS)	713,735	38.05	988,808	44.47
František Mikloško (KDS)	101,573	5.42	—	—
Zuzana Martináková (SF)	96,035	5.12	—	—
Milan Melník (HZDS)	45,985	2.45	—	—
Dagmara Bollová	21,378	1.14	—	—
Milan Sidor (KSS)	20,862	1.11	—	—
Total (turnout 43.63% / 51.67%)	1,875,629	100.00	2,223,595	100.00
Sources: statistics.sk, volbysr.sk

Other election results:

-EU parliament, see European Parliament election, 2009 (Slovakia)

-Regions, see Slovak regional elections, 2005

-local authorities, see Slovak local authority election, 2002

-older elections, see Elections in Slovakia

Political parties: The Slovak political scene supports a wide spectrum of political parties including the communists (KSS) and the nationalists (SNS). New parties arise and old parties cease to exist or merge at a frequent rate. Major parties are members of the European political parties. Some parties have regional strongholds, for example SMK is supported mainly by the Hungarian minority living in southern Slovakia. Although the main political cleavage in the 1990s concerned the somewhat authoritarian policy of HZDS, the left-right conflict over economic reforms (principally between Direction - Social Democracy and Slovak Democratic and Christian Union - Democratic Party) has recently become the dominant power in Slovakia's politics.

Judicial branch

The country's highest appellate forum is the Supreme Court (Najvyšší súd), the judges of which are elected by the National Council; below that are regional, district, and military courts. In certain cases the law provides for decisions of tribunals of judges to be attended by lay judges from the citizenry. Slovakia also has the Constitutional Court of Slovakia (Ústavný súd Slovenskej Republiky), which rules on constitutional issues. The 13 members of this court are appointed by the president from a slate of candidates nominated by Parliament.

In 2002 Parliament passed legislation which created a Judicial Council. This 18-member council, composed of judges, law professors, and other legal experts, is now responsible for the nomination of judges. All judges except those of the Constitutional Court are appointed by the president from a list proposed by the Judicial Council. The Council also is responsible for appointing Disciplinary Senates in cases of judicial misconduct.

Minority politics

See also: Hungarians in Slovakia and Language law of Slovakia

International organization participation

Slovakia is member of ACCT (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI, CERN, European Audiovisual Observatory, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EU, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNTSO, UPU, Visegrád Group, WCO, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC

Political pressure groups and leaders

• Association of Employers of Slovakia (AZS)
• Association of Towns and Villages (ZMOS)
• Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic (KOZ)
• Metal Workers Unions (KOVO)
• METALURG