Illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
Despite President Andrej Kiska’s disapproval, two-round regional elections will be changed into single round contests, as parliament overrode the president’s veto and passed an amendment to the election act for a second time on March 21.
Kiska vetoed the bill because he believes that it will undermine free competition between political forces in regional elections. He recommended that lawmakers should omit passages introducing single-round elections, the TASR newswire reported.
Smer and Most-Híd MPs point to the fact that mayors are also selected in one-round elections.
“The position and responsibility held by mayors of large regional towns and cities is comparable to the position and responsibility held by regional governors,” the MPs said, as quoted by TASR.
The change is also expected to bring savings, according to the MPs. They noted that in the regional elections in 2013 a second round took place in five regions. If this had not been the case, €2.4 million would have been saved.
