Tension in the parliament for elections from abroad: Danko expelled Mesterová from the hall! They had to interrupt the negotiations

• The parliament’s deliberations on the regulation of elections from abroad were interrupted.
• Opposition members of the PS brought petition sheets to the meeting hall.
• Andrej Danko described the petition sheets as prohibited visual aids.
• The head of the SNS expelled Zuzana Mesterová (PS) from the hall.

The discussion in the National Council (NR) of the Slovak Republic on the proposal for changes in elections from abroad from the workshop of the Smer-SD coalition was interrupted. This happened during the speech of the deputy speaker of the parliament, Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD).

Deputies for the opposition movement PS brought to the hall sheets with signatures for a petition against the restriction of elections from abroad, which they launched. Chairman Andrej Danko (SNS) expelled the head of the PS club Zuzana Mesterová from the hall. He reproached her for disrupting the proceedings and for bringing visual aids into the hall.

In his speech, Gašpar emphasized that the amendment aims to change the election from abroad, not cancel it. “Until now, we have voted by postal mail, we are proposing an election that will take place at our councils,” he pointed out. He justified the change by saying that the election by mail appears to be unreliable.

He pointed out that some envelopes from the 2023 parliamentary elections are still arriving in Slovakia. He also thinks that voting by mail does not meet the requirement of directness and secrecy of elections. “You cannot guarantee with certainty to what extent the person who is registered as a voter puts the postal ticket in the envelope and expresses an opinion,” he commented.

The opposition has already criticized the amendment several times. To the plenary session of the parliament, MPs for the PS brought sheets with signatures for a petition against the proposed change. During Gašpar’s performance, Danko warned them several times that they had brought visual aids into the hall and that they were violating the rules of procedure of the parliament. Finally, he expelled Mesterová from the hall.