President to Approach Constitutional Court over Referendum Question
Bratislava, May 12 (TASR) – President Zuzana Caputova announced on Wednesday that she will approach the Constitutional Court over the referendum question on organising an early election.
“The president’s role is to make a decision that will make the referendum in line with the Constitution and that won’t be surrounded by any constitutional doubts. This is why I consider it right to resolve all disputed elements before the referendum is announced, so that its course and result can’t be challenged later,” said Caputova.
She noted that the formal pre-requisite of providing at least 350,000 signatures has been met, as the organisers in early May presented more than 585,000 signatures.
Justice Minister Maria Kolikova (For the People) said that the referendum would be unconstitutional and destructive to the system, as 350,000 signatures demanding a snap election could be found immediately after any general election.
Fico: If Constitutional Court Bars Referendum, We’ll Approach European Court
If the Constitutional Court prevents a referendum on an early election from taking place, the opposition Smer-SD party will file a complaint to the European Court for Human Rights, said Smer chief and former prime minister Robert Fico on Wednesday.
According to Fico, Caputova by her decision proved that she’s a president of the governing coalition.
“The president today drowned direct democracy. We’ve already had two referendums with similar questions in Slovakia and nobody challenged them as unconstitutional,” said Fico.
The fact that Vice-premier Veronika Remisova (For the People) announced to the public that Caputova would submit the issue to the Constitutional Court proves that the president discussed the issue with figures from the governing coalition, said Fico.
Governing Parties Respect Caputova’s Decision on Referendum
The co-governing Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) respects President Zuzana Caputova’s decision to approach the Constitutional Court over the constitutionality of a referendum about a snap election, party spokesman Ondrej Sprlak told TASR on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, another co-governing party, For the People, said that it will respect any decision of the Constitutional Court.
The main governing party OLANO, for its part, takes Caputova’s decision into consideration and said that it will also respect the Constitutional Court’s decision.
“This is up entirely to Mrs. President, it’s in her powers,” said Linda Tribusova from the We Are Family’s press department.
