Referendum on early elections: The case of Slovakia in the European context Marián Giba* Vincent Bujňák**
Summary: The referendum initiative of 2021 is the fourth attempt in Slovakia to call a referendum on early parliamentary elections in less than 30 years. The aim of this article is to answer the question of whether the shortening of the parliamentary term by referendum is in accordance with the Slovak Constitution. Since the shortening of parliamentary term by referendum is a constitutional issue which is a question of identity common to all European democracies, the authors analyse the existence of such direct democracy instrument in the Council of Europe member states and compare the relevant constitutional framework with the Slovak Constitution. The authors’ opinion is that the referendum on early elections contradicts not only several constitutional provisions, but also the overall philosophy of the Slovak Constitution and Western-type democracy. Keywords: recall, dissolution of parliament, referendum, representative mandate, direct democracy
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Introduction
After two unsuccessful and relatively older attempts in 2000 and 2004, the idea to demand early parliamentary elections through a referendum emerged in Slovakia once again. The initiative comes formally from a popular petition.1 In reality, this petition is organized by several opposition political parties. Such initiative has naturally invoked not only political reactions, but also revived doctrinal discussions on compliance of such referendum with the Constitution of Associate Professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava – Faculty of Law, The Department of Constitutional Law, Šafárikovo square no. 6, 810 00 Bratislava, Slovakia. Email: marian. giba@flaw.uniba.sk ** Assistant Professor at the Comenius University in Bratislava – Faculty of Law, The Department of Constitutional Law, Šafárikovo square no. 6, 810 00 Bratislava, Slovakia. Email: vincent. bujnak@flaw.uniba.sk 1 According to article 95 (2) of the Slovak Constitution, a referendum can be declared by the president upon a petition submitted by at least 350,000 citizens (approximately 8 % of eligible voters) or upon a resolution of the National Council (approved by a simple majority of its members). *
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