The central commission for the referendum set for September 18 will hold its first session on Tuesday, August 24, Alena Koišová from the Interior Ministry's communications department told the TASR newswire. The session will see the drawing of lots to select the chair and first vice-chair. The other vice-chairs will include Interior Minister Daniel Lipšic (KDH) and Statistics Office director Ľudmila Benkovičová.
The commission will feature one representative of each parliamentary party plus one substitute, while representatives of the petition committee that initiated the referendum will also be present.
The referendum questions involve: abolishing television and radio licence fees, curbing MPs' immunity, downsizing the number of MPs from 150 to 100, setting the maximum purchasing price for cars used by Government officials, and helping to make voting in elections available via the internet. A sixth question concerns removing the right to reply from public officials as is required by the Press Code of 2008.
The referendum was called by President Ivan Gašparovič after a petition with more than 368,000 valid signatures was delivered to his office. The referendum is expected to cost €7.2 million.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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