Andrej Kiska (source: Marek Mrvis, SITA)
President Andrej Kiska has returned two amendments about regional elections to parliament for re-negotiation.
The first amendment changes the two-round system of regional elections to one single-round. The second makes changes in election committees because municipal and regional elections should be on the same day.
Kiska explained his decision by the fact that the election system would be changed in the year of the regional elections. The reasoning of the coalition parties, who submitted the amendment, that voters' participation would be higher and the state would save money is incomplete and misrepresentative, according to the president.
The low voter turnout is a problem of the first round. This was the topic of political discussion after each regional election, Kiska stated.
“The discussion always went silent after several days or weeks and there were no essential changes,” reads the president's statement.
Kiska added that parliament "should not continue in a tradition of ill-conceived political proposals".
