- The Smer-SD coalition proposed an amendment to the law on the conditions for exercising the right to vote.
- Voting from abroad is to be moved from the post office to embassies.
- Citizens abroad will have the opportunity to vote for the president in person at embassies.
Members of the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic for the Smer-SD coalition submitted to the parliament an amendment to the law on the conditions for the exercise of the right to vote. It regulates, among other things, election from abroad. A new way of voting abroad has to be introduced – according to the new rules, voting is to be done at representative offices, not by mail. At the same time, it should extend the possibility of voting from abroad to presidential elections as well. The amendment also changes the amount of the electoral deposit for the elections to the Slovak Republic and the European Parliament.
“The new legislation reflects the long-standing demand of voters living abroad to participate in personal voting in national elections at representative offices and thus enable the exercise of the right to vote on the territory of the state in which the voters are located at the time of the elections, without the need to travel to the territory of the Slovak Republic for the purpose of carrying out the electoral act, or without the need to carry out actions related to voting by mail,” the presenters clarified.
They suggested introducing voting at representative offices, in addition to parliamentary elections and referendums, for presidential elections as well. “Until now, voters without permanent residence in the territory of the Slovak Republic could vote in the elections of the President of the Slovak Republic exclusively in person on the day of the election in a polling station in the territory of the Slovak Republic, based on being added to the list of voters after presenting a travel document issued by the Slovak Republic. By replacing personal voting in a polling station in the territory of the Slovak Republic with voting at the embassy, this group of voters will significantly increase not only their voting comfort, but also the real availability of the opportunity to actively participate in the election of the head of state from abroad,” they argued.
The amendment also changes the setting of the election deposit calculation for parliamentary elections and for elections to the European Parliament. The amount should now be based on the amount of the average monthly salary. For parliamentary elections, the deposit should be in the amount of 25 times the average monthly salary instead of 17,000 euros, and for European elections in the amount of 2.5 times the average monthly salary instead of 1,700 euros.
“The current amount of the electoral deposit has not changed since its introduction, while its amount no longer represents a relevant amount for proving the seriousness of candidacy for bodies of such importance as the NR SR and the European Parliament. Such a mechanism for calculating the amount of the election deposit will ensure a reasonable increase or decrease in the amount of the election deposit depending on the objective economic indicator in the Slovak economy,” the deputies added, stating that this calculation mechanism reflects the findings of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic. If approved, the amendment should be effective from September 1, 2026.
