Domestic Policies

Smer-SD Collects 400,000 Signatures for Referendum on Snap Election

Bratislava, April 5 (TASR) – The opposition’s Smer-SD party has collected more than 400,000 signatures to initiate a referendum on a snap election, party spokesperson Jan Mazgut confirmed to TASR on Monday.

Smer-SD chair Robert Fico stated recently that a petition commission is supposed to meet after Easter and decide on the next course of action.

Fico wishes to collect at least 500,000 signatures, as he expects President Zuzana Caputova to challenge the referendum in the Constitutional Court. He can also envision every single signature being scrutinized.

The petition for the referendum was initiated by Smer-SD and non-parliamentary Voice-SD parties, later joined also by non-parliamentary Slovak National Party (SNS) and supported by the Confederation of Labour Unions (KOZ). The parties claim that they advocate it as an apolitical civic referendum.

A total of 350,000 signatures are required to launch a referendum.

Takac: Police Launch Criminal Investigation, Infested Wood Being Extracted Urgently

The police have already launched a criminal investigation regarding the failure to address the bark-beetle infestation in Banska Bystrica region, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Richard Takac, who filed a criminal complaint in this connection in May, told a news conference on Monday.

President Appoints Dusan Keketi as Tourism and Sport Minister

President Zuzana Caputova appointed Dusan Keketi as Tourism and Sport Minister on Friday.

Premier: Youth in Slovakia Becoming Radicalised, Mainly Online

Young people in Slovakia are becoming radicalised, chiefly online, Premier Ludovit Odor and Interior Minister Ivan Simko told the media following a Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

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