The local election committee chairman Ladislav Petráš interrupted the municipal elections at Luník IX borough of Košice for 10 minutes around noon on Saturday, TASR newswire reported.
"One of the voters came to the polling station with a paper, containing detailed instructions on who to vote for," explained Petráš.
Police were summoned to investigate whether the voter in question was a victim of coercion. Ten minutes later, the election committee decided that there was no violation of the law and the voting resumed. Traditionally, the largest turnout at Luník IX, mostly inhabited by Roma, is during the local elections, with voters waiting in queues in front of polling station already since morning, TASR reported.
Petráš noticed small groups of loan sharks that Luník IX inhabitants owe money to standing in front of polling stations, trying to sway Roma votes their way. Because of this, Petráš asked for police co-operation.
There are 3,330 registered voters at Luník, casting their vote in two districts.
“We came to make sure everything is all right – electricity, gas and water – just the way it used to be,” two voters from Luník told TASR. “We want everything to be all right at Luník IX, no bulldozing. People are without electricity, we want this to be all right