A referendum on political reform was held in
Slovakia on 18 September 2010, following a successful petition started as a civil activity along with foundation of the
radical neo-liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), which later became the third-largest party in the
National Council. 401,126 signatures were collected, with 386,000 found valid.
The referendum failed to meet the
turnout threshold required under the
Constitution of Slovakia, with only 22.8% of the electorate voting: far below the 50% required. Large majorities voted in favour of all six proposals, with between 70% and 95% supporting each proposal.
Referendum
The referendum asked six questions, which had been promoted collectively by SaS as 'Referendum 2009' under their plan to hold such a referendum in 2009:
* to abolish the
television licence (question 1);
* to limit
parliamentary immunity
Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians such as president, vice president, governor, lieutenant governor, member of parliament, member of legislative assembly, member of legislative council, s ...
(question 2);
* to lower the number of MPs from 150 to 100 by 2014 (question 3);
* to set a maximum price for limousines used by the government at €40,000 (question 4);
* to introduce
electronic voting via the internet (question 5); and
* to change the Press Code by removing politicians' automatic
right of reply The right of reply or right of correction generally means the right to defend oneself against public criticism in the same venue where it was published. In some countries, such as Brazil, it is a legal or even constitutional right. In other countrie ...
(question 6).
The latter four demands had already been included in the new coalition agreement of the government formed after the
2010 election, which includes SaS.
Election
A
turnout of 50% or more was required for the referendum to be valid. Only one referendum in Slovak history has ever crossed this threshold: the
2003 vote on EU membership (51.5% turnout).
Results
External links
*
Freedom and Solidarity's campaign website for the referendum
References
Referendum
Slovakia
Freedom and Solidarity
Referendums in Slovakia
Reform in Slovakia
September 2010 events in Europe
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