An early general election, one of the possible options for Slovakia after the Iveta Radičová government fell on Tuesday, October 11, would have to be approved by parliament with a constitutional majority, i.e. at least 90 votes, the SITA newswire wrote. The date set has to respect the deadlines stipulated by the Act on the Slovak Parliament for establishing election committees and proposing candidates. According to the constitution, it is the speaker of parliament who announces early elections. Slovak general elections normally take place every four years.
If the current speaker, Richard Sulík – the leader of the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party whose actions led to the present impasse – is recalled then the deputy speaker can announce elections. Something like this occurred in 2006 when then-speaker of parliament Pavol Hrušovský (KDH) resigned after his party , the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), left the ruling coalition. MPs then passed a rule that if there is no speaker of parliament, the authorised deputy speaker can announce early elections. In 2006, this role fell to Béla Bugár, then chairman of the Party of Hungarian Coalition (SMK), who declared an early election.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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