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.