The State Commission for Elections and Control of the Financing of Political Parties will not deal with the actions of the Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) from the pre-election campaign to the presidential elections. The suspicions of non-governmental organizations were forwarded to the relevant administrative authorities back in April. Matej Neumann, the spokesperson of the Department of the Interior, stated this for TASR. During the campaign, according to non-governmental organizations, the minister defamed one of the candidates with paid contributions on social networks. Therefore, they submitted a petition to the electoral commission.
“The State Commission, as a state body, is strictly bound by Article Two, Paragraph Two of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic, which obliges it to act only on the basis of the Constitution, within its limits and in the scope and manner established by law. For this reason, the State Commission does not have the right to examine and even take opinions on the procedure and decisions of other administrative bodies outside the framework of administrative proceedings regulated by relevant legal regulations,” said the commission in the resolution of November 7, part of which TASR provided Neumann.
The spokesperson declared that Šutaj Eštok does not in any way interfere with the independence of the state election commission and has no reason to comment on the statements of the Stop Corruption Foundation and other non-profit organizations, who filed the petition. He pointed out that the state election commission is established by law and its members are nominated by political parties and institutions themselves.
The Let’s Stop Corruption Foundation thinks that such decisions show how the rules do not apply equally to everyone in Slovakia. “We have serious doubts about the independence of both offices. This is a completely obvious case of violation of the law on the election campaign, which seen by everyone except the competent authorities,” declared the director of the foundation, Zuzana Petková. She recalled that non-profit organizations also turned to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic with an initiative.
