Kollar Wants to Deal with Referendum-related Legislative Change in July
Bratislava, July 8 (TASR) – Parliamentary Chair Boris Kollar (We Are Family) has posted on a social network that he wants to include in the special July House session a procedural proposal to change legislation in order to enable a referendum on a snap election to be announced.
Kollar claims this is a response to the ruling of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday (July 7) and a subsequent statement made by President Zuzana Caputova. A referendum might be held in the autumn.
According to Kollar, people must be given a chance to express themselves in a referendum. “The Constitutional Court in line with the law decided that it cannot be held in this way, and we’ve heard the recommendations of the Constitutional Court and the president. The only way to enable people to express themselves in a referendum as to whether or not they want to shorten Parliament’s term in office is to change the law in Parliament,” said Kollar.
He wants to include a draft amendment to the legislation in the special House session scheduled to start on July 22. “I want to submit a procedural proposal to amend the law so that we can announce a referendum. It would be done by Parliament. We would pass the law, and the president would announce a referendum, which might be held in September, October or November,” added the parliamentary chief.
Kollar wants people to have a chance to take part in referendums in the future as well. “We’ll see how our coalition approaches it and how the opposition approaches it, whether or not it will vote for this draft law,” he said.
President Zuzana Caputova said on Wednesday (July 7) that she would announce a referendum on an early election if Parliament decided to amend the Constitution and subsequently adopted a resolution requesting a referendum. She described this as one of the possible solutions following the decision of the Constitutional Court that the proposed referendum question on shortening Parliament’s term in office wasn’t in line with the Constitution.
