Independent MP and chairman of the Conservative Democrats (KDS), Vladimír Palko, submitted an amendment to the Criminal Act to parliament on November 25, in which he proposes to punish vote-buying by up to five years in jail, he told the TASR newswire that day.
The amendment introduces a new brand of crime - bribing during elections or referendum, which is constituted when a person directly or via a mediator offers or gives a bribe to a voter in exchange for their vote.
Palko reasons his motion by the fact that buying voters in the first round of the elections to the regional election on November 14, especially among Roma voters in eastern Slovakia, reached such an extent that the Central Election Commission (UVK) had to ask the Police Corps to take measures to prevent similar activities from taking place in the second round on November 28.
“Taking blank ballots out of polling stations was reported, while voters allegedly claimed that they would get cash for their votes,” said the KDS chairman, who backs the amendment by pointing to its preventive or deterrent nature. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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