Slovak lawmakers approved an amendment to the Election Act but rejected a proposal to have more than one electoral constituency, the TASR news wire wrote.
A proposal to split Slovakia into four or eight constituencies was submitted by Ivan Šimko, leader of the Free Forum group of MPs that broke away from Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union last December.
An proposed amendment to require that at least one third of MPs are women, put forward by Jozef Heriban, a member of the liberal New Citizen’s Alliance co-ruling party, was turned down as well.
One of the key changes includes allowing Slovak citizens living abroad to vote by mail.
Under the amendment, the polling period is cut from two days to one, on a Saturday from 7:00 to 22:00, and the official campaign period is extended to 21 days.
The measure scraps both the moratorium on campaigning during the 48 hours before polling, and the ban on the publication of opinion polls in the preceding week.
The political parties will also see their funding increase from Sk617 million (€15.15 million) to Sk1.044 billion over four years, a rise of Sk426 million (€10.5m)
Instead of receiving a fixed Sk60 (€1.50) per voter, those parties that gain at least 3 percent in the general election will be paid for each vote one percent of the nominal average monthly wage for the preceding year.
Compiled by Beata Balogová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
