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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 exercised in some cases also by the government or directly by citizens.
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of all the votes cast that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, e.g. in party-list proportional representation systems where an electoral threshold requires that a party must receive a specified minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or in a particular electoral district, to obtain seats in the legislature. In Single transferable voting the election threshold is called the quota and it is possible to pass it by use of first choice votes alone or by a combination of first choice votes and votes transferred from other candidates based on lower preferences. In mixed-member-proportional (MMP) systems the election threshold determines which parties are eligible for top-up seats in the legislative body.
The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party was a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia. The SDKÚ-DS was a member of the Centrist Democrat International and was a member of the European People's Party until 2018, when it was expelled.
The Party of the Hungarian Community, formerly known as Party of the Hungarian Coalition, was a political party in Slovakia for the ethnic Hungarian minority. It was led by Pál Csáky until the parliamentary election of 12 June 2010 where it failed to acquire 5% of the popular vote, the threshold necessary for entering the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Its votes went largely to Most–Híd, a new party led by former SMK leader Béla Bugár. In response, Csáky and the whole party leadership resigned. SMK-MKP later merged with Most–Híd and another Hungarian minority party (Unity) to form the Alliance in late 2021. It continues to exist as a faction within Alliance under the backronym Hungarian Conservative Platform.
Direction – Social Democracy also commonly referred to as Smer, is a social democratic and left-wing populist political party in Slovakia led by the former prime minister Robert Fico. It claims to represent "social democracy with Slovak national specifics".
The Christian Democratic Movement is a Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International.
An election of Members of the European Parliament representing Slovakia for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 13 June 2004 as part of the wider 2004 European election. The turnout was the lowest of any country in the European Union. Support was evenly distributed among five parties.
Monika Beňová is a Slovak politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2004. She is a member of the centre-left Direction-Social Democracy party SMER-SD. SMER-SD is a member of the Party of European Socialists. She presently serves on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. At the same time she serves as a Quaestor of the European Parliament and therefore she is a member of the European Parliament's Bureau. In present she has opposite views as her mother party - Smer, for example on European Union, NATO, LGBTQ rights in Slovakia, conflict in Ukraine and so on.
There are five types of elections in Slovakia: municipal elections, regional elections, parliamentary elections, presidential elections and elections to the European Parliament. All four types of elections are normally held after fixed periods, although early elections can occur in certain situations. Elections are conventionally scheduled for a Saturday - the polls normally open at 7:00 in the morning and close at 22:00 in the evening. Citizens aged 18 years or older are eligible to vote. Those serving prison sentences for particularly serious crimes, as well as those deprived of legal capacity, including persons with mental disabilities, are denied the right to vote. Voter registration is passive and decentralized with the voter register maintained by municipalities based on the permanent residence register. Voter lists are updated continuously based on municipal records and input provided by state institutions or other municipalities. Voters may verify their data in voter lists, and, if necessary, request correction until the day before election day. On election day, a voter can be added to a voter list upon presenting an identity card with proof of residency. Some 4.4 million voters are registered and valid to vote in the elections. Voters are only able to vote from abroad during the Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia.
Robert Fico is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party since 1999. First elected to Parliament in 1992, he was later appointed to the Council of Europe. Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed the first Fico Cabinet.
Freedom and Solidarity is a liberal political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009, SaS is led by its founder and economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally holds libertarian or anti-statist positions. After the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election, the party lost several seats in the National Council but was part of the coalition government with For the People and We Are Family.
Most–Híd 2023 is an inter-ethnic political party in Slovakia. Its programme calls for greater cooperation between the country's Hungarian minority and ethnic Slovak majority. It was one of four parties in the Fico III government coalition, but lost all its seats in the National Council in the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election.
Maroš Šefčovič is a Slovak diplomat and politician serving as Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations since 2019, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2014. He has been member of the European Commission since 2009. Šefčovič also stood for office in the 2019 Slovak presidential election, which he lost against Zuzana Čaputová.
The European Conservatives and Reformists Party, formerly known as Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) (2009–2016) and Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE) (2016–2019), is a conservative, soft Eurosceptic European political party with a main focus on reforming the European Union (EU) on the basis of Eurorealism, as opposed to total rejection of the EU (anti-EU-ism).
Ordinary People and Independent Personalities is a conservative political party in Slovakia. The anti-establishment party founded in 2011 won the 2020 parliamentary election on an anti-corruption platform. After getting in charge, OĽaNO adopted a generally conservative outlook. The party is led by former prime minister of Slovakia Igor Matovič. The incumbent prime minister was a member of the party presidium, Eduard Heger, succeeding Matovič in 2021.
Elections to the European Parliament took place in Slovakia on 24 May 2014. It was the third European election which took place in Slovakia.
We Are Family is a national-conservative political party in Slovakia founded in 2015. It is led by businessman Boris Kollár, who is serving as Speaker of the National Council since 2020.
Progressive Slovakia is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Vice President of the European Parliament Michal Šimečka. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and is a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. PS has three MEPs: Michal Šimečka, Martin Hojsík, and Michal Wiezik ; Wiezik left the EPP group and Spolu to join PS. Zuzana Čaputová, incumbent President of Slovakia, co-founder and former deputy leader of Progressive Slovakia, was nominated by the party in the 2019 Slovak presidential election, and won by standing for the anti-corruption, environmental and pro-European program. In the National Council, it is represented by deputy Tomáš Valášek elected for For the People, which he left in 2021. In local politics, PS has a dominant position in Bratislava, cooperating with Team Bratislava and Freedom and Solidarity.
Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which existed during the sixth, seventh and eighth terms from 2004 to 2019. Renew Europe in the European Committee of the Regions is the sister group of Renew Europe.
References
- European Parliament (2014). "European Parliament / Results of the 2014 European elections". European Parliament. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
