Governing MPs Suggest Scraping Second Round of Regional Governor Election

Bratislava, October 31 (TASR) – Governing coalition MPs for Smer-SD and Most-Hid want a one-round election when selecting regional governors, TASR learnt on Monday.

Smer-SD and Most-Hid suggest scrapping the election’s second round in an amendment to the Voting Rights Act. They also suggest amending the election campaign law and the political parties and movements law. They have submitted respective drafts for the upcoming session of Parliament.

“The election should be modified so that a candidate who gains the highest number of valid votes becomes a regional governor,” reads the amendment. The amendment’s submitters support their proposal with practical experience that has shown that voters would rather submit their ballots in the first round. “Turnout in the election’s second round is usually very low and, therefore, the voting in this case does not fully reflect voters’ will,” stated the submitters.

Smer-SD and Most-Hid MPs point to the fact that mayors are also selected in a one-round election. “The position and responsibility held by mayors of big regional cities and towns is comparable to the position and responsibility held by regional governors,” stated the MPs.

According to Smer-SD and Most-Hid MPs, the change would also bring savings. They stated that in the regional elections in 2013 the second round took place in five regions. If the second round had not taken place, €2.4 million would have been saved.

In case of its approval, the governing coalition MPs suggest that the amendment takes effect on the day of its publishing in the Law Collection. The changes would thus apply to the regional elections due to take place next autumn.