Slovakia | |
---|---|
European Parliament constituency | |
Member state | Slovakia |
Created | 2004 |
MEPs | 14 (2004–2009) 13 (2009–2020) 14 (2020–2024) 15 (2024–present) |
Sources | |
Slovakia is a European Parliament constituency for elections to the European Parliament covering the member state of the European Union Slovakia. It is currently represented by fifteen Members of the European Parliament.
The 2004 European election was the sixth election to the European Parliament. As Slovakia had only joined the European Union earlier that month, it was the first European election held in that state. The election took place on 13 June 2004.
The 2009 European election was the seventh election to the European Parliament and the second for Slovakia. The number of seats was reduced to thirteen.
The 2014 European election was the eighth election to the European Parliament and the third for Slovakia.
The 2019 European election was the ninth election to the European Parliament and the fourth for Slovakia.
The 2024 European election will be the tenth election to the European Parliament and the fifth for Slovakia.
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 votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature.
A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
Eduard Kukan was a Slovakian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2006. He was a candidate in the presidential election held on 3 April 2004, and although pre-election polls had suggested he would come first, he actually came in third behind the eventual President Ivan Gašparovič and former prime minister Vladimír Mečiar, thus preventing him from contesting the run-off. He was elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 2009, a position he held until 2019.
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.
The European Democratic Party, also known as the European Democrats, is a centrist European political party in favour of European integration.
Anna Záborská is a Slovak politician of the Christian Union party, living in Bojnice. From 2004 to 2019 she was a Member of the European Parliament, where she was a member of the Group of the European People's Party (EPP). She was a member of the Christian Democratic Movement party (KDH).
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.
Ján Figeľ is a Slovak politician. Figeľ served as European Commissioner from 2004 to 2009, then as Slovak minister of Transports from 2010 to 2012. From 2016 to 2019 he was European Commission special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion outside the EU.
The Social Democratic Party of Slovakia was a centre-left political party in Slovakia. Its last chairman, since 1993, was Jaroslav Volf, and its chairman in 1992 was Alexander Dubček.
Irena Belohorská is a Slovak politician and Member of the European Parliament with the Ludova strana - Hnutie za demokraticke Slovensko from 2004 to 2009.
The Constitution of Slovakia, officially the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, is the current constitution of Slovakia. It was passed by the Slovak National Council on 1 September 1992 and signed on 3 September 1992 in the Knights Hall of the Bratislava Castle. The constitution went to effect on 1 October 1992. The day of constitution is remembered as Constitution Day on 1 September.
Freedom and Solidarity, also called Saska, is a centre-right liberal and libertarian political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009, SaS was founded by economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally holds anti-state and neoliberal positions. After the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election, the party lost several seats in the National Council but became part of the coalition government with Ordinary People and Independent Personalities, For the People, and We Are Family. It is led by businessman Branislav Gröhling.
Maroš Šefčovič is a Slovak diplomat and politician serving as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal since 2023, as well as Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations since 2019, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2014. He has been a 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 Party of Civic Understanding was a centre-left political party in Slovakia between 1998 and 2003. Between 1998 and 2002 the party was part of the coalition government led by Mikuláš Dzurinda, with the founder of the party, Rudolf Schuster, being elected President of Slovakia in 1999.
Ivan Štefanec is a Slovak politician and business manager, former member of the Slovak Parliament and current member of the European Parliament for Christian Democratic Movement.
Change from Below, Democratic Union of Slovakia, in the years 2000—2002 Liberal Democratic Union, and 2002—2010 Democratic Union of Slovakia, is a non-parliamentary political party in Slovakia since 2000. Its chairman Ján Budaj is a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic elected on the OĽaNO party's list of candidates.
Ursula Schleicher is a German Christian Social Union in Bavaria politician and harpist who served two terms in the Bundestag from 1972 to 1980 and five terms in the European Parliament between 1979 and 2004. She served as state chair of the Paneuropean Union in Bavaria between 1988 and 1994 before becoming its deputy federal chair in 1995 and was a Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999. Schleicher was appointed Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2001.