- The Democrats have collected 350,000 signatures to declare a referendum.
- The aim of the referendum is the early termination of Robert Fico’s government.
- The referendum also calls for the renewal of ÚŠP, NAKA and the cancellation of Fico’s life annuity.
- Democrats want to collect more signatures by the end of February.
- The President of the Slovak Republic announces a referendum if 350,000 citizens sign the petition.
Non-parliamentary party The Democrats collected 350,000 signatures to declare a referendum on shortening the current government of Robert Fico (Direction-SD). He informed about it at the press conference on Friday party chairman Jaroslav Naď.
According to Naď, the aim of the referendum is the early termination of the current government’s term of office, the restoration of the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the National Criminal Agency, as well as the cancellation of Fico’s life annuity. “This referendum that will be announced, I am convinced, will be the next step, an extremely important step to defeat Robert Fico,” stated the head of the Democrats.
He claims that they want to collect several thousand more signatures by the end of February. “If by chance someone wants to speculate and eliminate some signatures, so that it does not help them, so that it is true that we will hand over the necessary number of signatures,” pointed out Naď.
Considering the past statements of President Petr Pellegrini, the Vice-President of the Democrats, Juraj Šeliga, expects that he will not turn to the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic and will be as cooperative as possible. “We also expect that the competent authorities will not in any way thwart the referendum,” he added. At the same time, the party announces negotiations with opposition partners in order to support citizens’ participation in the referendum.
The President of the Slovak Republic announces a referendum if at least 350,000 citizens request it through a petition. The Constitution says that the results of the referendum are valid if a majority of eligible voters participate in it and if the decision is adopted by a majority of the participants in the referendum.
