Premier: Coalition Council Should Debate Kollar's Proposal to Amend Constitution
Bratislava, July 8 (TASR) – The Coalition Council should discuss the proposal of Parliamentary Chair Boris Kollar (We Are Family) to amend the legislation that would allow a referendum on an early election, Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) stated on Thursday.
Meanwhile, MP Ondrej Dostal (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) says that the agenda of the extraordinary session, convened at the proposal of 30 MPs, can’t be changed or supplemented according to the Rules of Procedure.
“The Coalition Council will have to discuss such an important topic,” premier’s spokeswoman Lubica Janikova said in response. Kollar 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, claiming 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.
Dostal won’t support Kollar’s proposal. “I consider it to be factually incorrect, politically absurd, and a discussion on it at the special July session impossible if the Act on the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure is to be complied with,” he posted on a social network in response.
Dostal also stated that an amendment to the Constitution and the possibility of holding a referendum on an early election doesn’t correspond to any of the reasons stipulated by law for a fast-tracked legislative procedure. He said this in response to the draft of Smer-SD, which prepared an amendment to the Constitution. The opposition party wants the government to approve a proposal for a fast-tracked legislative procedure on this proposal next week. Smer-SD wants to add to the Constitution the provision that the election term of MPs can be shortened via a referendum. The party wants its proposal to be discussed at the extraordinary meeting that is set to begin on July 22.
Caputova said on Wednesday 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, describing this as one of the possible solutions following the decision of the Constitutional Court according to which the proposed referendum question on shortening Parliament’s term in office is not in line with the Constitution.
