Slovakia holds referendum for early election

Slovakia is holding referendum to amend constitution for early election

Bratislava, The Gulf Observer: Slovakia is holding a nationwide referendum on amending the country’s constitution to make possible an early election.

In Saturday’s vote, Slovaks are asked whether they agree that the Constitution should be amended to allow a snap election if it’s approved by Parliament or in a referendum.

The constitution currently doesn’t offer such an option.

President Zuzana Caputova’s decided on the ballot last year after three opposition parties gathered over 380,000 signatures supporting the move.

Slovakia’s constitutional court ruled in November at Caputova’s request that another referendum question – proposed by the opposition – asking whether the government should immediately resign, violates the constitution.

To be legally binding, turnout in the ballot must be more than 50 percent in the nation of 5.4 million people. 

In the previous eight referendums since Slovakia gained independence in 1993 after the split of Czechoslovakia, only the referendum on the country’s entry into the European Union in 2003 met that condition.