The Constitutional Court came up with a verdict regarding the constitutionality of a referendum on snap elections. On Wednesday, its chair Ivan Fiačan announced that such a referendum is not in line with the Constitution. "If the Constitutional Court allowed such a breach of the general constitutional rules, then it would pave the way for such interventions in the Constitution, through which it would be possible to remove barriers protecting the people from abuse of state power," said Fiačan regarding the question the court was tasked answering with by president Zuzana Čaputová. In early May 2021, Čaputová received 585,000 signatures collected mainly by the opposition party SMER-SD and non-parliamentary party Voice-SD petitioning for a referendum on snap elections. According to the latest stance of the Constitutional Court, such a controversial subject of the referendum would circumvent the constitutional articles on a one-time basis and for a specific case, according to which the election term of Parliament is four years and Parliament is dissolved by the president.
"I would announce a referendum on an early election if Parliament decided to amend the Constitution and subsequently adopted a resolution requesting a referendum," President Zuzana Čaputová said at a press conference on Wednesday. The head of state described this as one of the possible solutions following the decision of the Constitutional Court.
Pleased with the resolution is Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) who said on Wednesday that he respects the decision of the Constitutional Court concerning the proposed referendum on shortening Parliament's term in office. According to Heger, the opposition's ambitions to amend the Constitution show that it cannot accept the result of the parliamentary elections. At the same time, the leader of the senior coalition OĽaNO party and Finance Minister Igor Matovič condemned the actions taken by President Zuzana Čaputová, posting on social networks that she robbed the people of the right to express their opinion. "I'm not in favour of an early election, but I'm deeply convinced that opposition voters have the right to a referendum on this issue, regardless of whether we like it or not," wrote Matovič.
According to opposition MP and leader of the extra-parliamentary Voice-SD party Peter Pellegrini, the Constitutional Court failed in the process of building a legal and democratic state, depriving voters of their constitutional right to vote freely and to decide on the mandate delegated to MPs in a free election. Pellegrini said that this is a black day for Slovak democracy and a dangerous precedent for the future. Voice-SD plans to approach international institutions.
