by EUDO Citizenship Expert Jana Jaseckova

On 29 May 2014 the Slovak parliament adopted a single electoral law, which is replacing all six laws that were previously regulating the electoral system in the country. Perhaps the biggest novelty is that the law introduces spending caps and a new permanent commission to oversee financing of political parties and campaigns. It also harmonises the ‘electoral moratorium’ for all elections, prohibiting campaigning in the 48 hours before the polls are open. 

The law does not meet the hopes to introduce alternative methods of voting (via internet or at the embassies), which would enfranchise considerable number of Slovak citizens abroad. Before the new law was adopted, voting by post was available only for parliamentary elections. The new extends postal voting also to referendums, however, the other four types of elections (European, regional, local and presidential) remain out of reach for Slovaks living or travelling abroad. Regrettably, the law does not change the fact that Slovak Republic is one electoral district, which has been in the centre of all electoral reform debates since Slovak independence. 

Due to the newly introduced education level qualification for candidates running in local elections, it is quite certain that parliamentary opposition is going to challenge the law at the Constitutional Court.