The Slovak government debated and approved, on Wednesday, March 2, a draft amendment to parliament's rules of procedure, based on which the Slovak Parliament should vote in open session to select the general prosecutor, the chairman and vice-chairmen of the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) and candidates for Constitutional Court judges. Previously, such votes have been cast in secret.
The draft was submitted by four ruling coalition MPs. Members of the government voiced only a few objections, of a legislative and technical character, to the draft, the SITA newswire wrote. In line with the new rules, a secret ballot should only be held in cases required under the constitution: to elect the speaker and the deputy-speakers of parliament, chairmen of parliamentary committees, or if parliament agrees to do so based on a proposal backed by at least 15 MPs. Parliament will also have the right to decide to hold a secret ballot on issues where a public ballot is otherwise usual. The coalition agreed to change the rules of procedure after failing in its third attempt to select a new general prosecutor by secret ballot in December 2010.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
2. Mar 2011 at 14:00
