Regional bodies of opposition party SDKU-DS are planning to monitor the second round of the presidential election set for April 4 in 143 Roma settlements in the Prešov region. The party said it wanted to assure that the pre-election moratorium is not breached and voters are not being improperly influenced, reads a press statement provided to the media by Regional SDKÚ-DS chairman Stefan Kuzma on April 2.
“We've been given notice that €3 will be paid for one Roma vote. We have information about providing Roma coordinators with mobile phones in Bardejov district. We have the same responses from Levoča, Stará Ľubovňa, Vranov nad Topľou, Prešov, Humenné and Sabinov district,” reads the statement. The situation will be monitored by 143 volunteers who will remain anonymous, the TASR newswire wrote.
If noticing any breach of law or improper attempts to influence Roma voters, the volunteers will immediately contact task-force groups which will be on alert all day. These groups will be equipped with documenting technology so that they are ready to record the possible missteps.
“We'll inform the police, the Central Election Commission (UVK) and the media about any breach of the law,” Kuzma told TASR.
Kuzma also stated that they had not proposed any official motion to UVK. According to UVK secretary Livia Škultétyová, similar cases have appeared in the past but that the UVK doesn't have a mandate to deal with them, as the law doesn't deal with such cases. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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