Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová announced on Wednesday that she would approach the Constitutional Court over the referendum question on organising an early election. 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 Mária Kolíková (For the People) said that the referendum would be unconstitutional and destructive to the system.
The co-governing Freedom and Solidarity respects the President's decision to approach the Constitutional Court over the constitutionality of a referendum, meanwhile, another co-governing party, For the People, said that it would respect any decision that the Constitutional Court makes. The main governing party OĽaNO, for its part, is taking Čaputová's decision into consideration and said that it would also respect the Constitutional Court's decision. We Are Family's press department stated "this is up entirely to the President, it's in her powers".
"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 Čaputová on Wednesday.
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, Čaputová by her decision proved that she is 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.
