Green Party to Feature Equal Number of Men and Women in Election

Bratislava, February 5 (TASR) – The new Slovak Green Party (SZS) is to run in the 2016 general election for the first time ever, introducing a seven-point programme for better and healthier Slovakia, TASR learnt on Friday.

“Our priority is the environment, specifically the use of natural resources, returnable PET bottles and a ban on plastic bags. We support domestic farmers in terms of increasing their share of the market in chain stores and a guarantee of same EU subsidies. We also want to save the state budget by reducing the number of regions, boroughs in Bratislava and Kosice, and by cutting the number of municipal legislators (22,000) by half,” said SZS leader Natalia Hanulikova at a press conference on Friday.

They would also like to introduce free Sunday for all stores, state subsidies for young families for up to three kids, construction of cycling trails, cleaning the woods for the long-term unemployed, support of sport and ecological education in schools, ban on gambling houses and slot machines (excluding spa cities), and are in favour of registered same-sex partnerships.

Hanulikova said that their low-cost election campaign won’t exceed €40,000. There are 42 names on their slate, an equal number of men and women. It features environmentalists, lawyers, teachers and doctors. SZS was established in 2006 and it functions based on volunteers.

“We’re the only environmental party running in the election. There were two – the Greens and the Green Party – in the last general election. We’d like to consolidate all Slovak green parties,” said SZS candidate Rastislav Velcek.