Negotiations in The National Council on the proposal for changes in elections from abroad from the workshop of the coalition Smer was interrupted. This happened during the speech of the deputy speaker of the parliament Tibor Gašpar (Direction).
MPs for the opposition movement PS in fact, they brought into the hall sheets with signatures for a petition against the restriction of elections from abroad, which they launched.
Chairman Andrej Danko (CIS) expelled the head of the PS club, Zuzana Mesterová, from the hall. He reproached her for disrupting the proceedings and for bringing visual aids into the hall.
(source: TASR)
Danko told reporters that Mesterová admitted that she had brought sheets that she wanted to use in her performance. According to him, these were PS promotional materials.
He also claims that PS deputies were preparing for a coordinated attack and deliberately provoked him during Gašpar’s speech. Refuses to lead a meeting if the speaker is insulted and violates the rules of procedure.
In his speech, Gašpar emphasized that the amendment aims to change the election from abroad, not cancel it. “Until now, we have voted by postal mail, we are proposing an election that will take place at our councils,” he pointed out.
(source: TASR)
He justified the change by saying that the election by mail appears to be unreliable. He pointed out that some envelopes from the 2023 parliamentary elections are still arriving in Slovakia. He also thinks that voting by mail does not meet the requirement of directness and secrecy of elections.
“You cannot guarantee with certainty to what extent the person who is registered as a voter puts the correspondence ticket in the envelope and expresses an opinion,” he commented.
The PS strongly rejected the chairman’s approach. The MPs are talking about restricting freedom of speech in the parliament and have announced that they will turn to the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic.
“I will also submit a petition to the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, because this is not normal. Danko bullies us here regularly, calls us wild women, any kind of epithet depending on his mood and current state,” declared Mesterová.
(source: TASR)
The opposition has already criticized the amendment several times. To the plenary session of the parliament, MPs for the PS brought sheets with signatures for a petition against the proposed change.
During Gašpar’s performance, Danko warned them several times that they had brought visual aids into the hall and that they were violating the rules of procedure of the parliament. Finally, he expelled Mesterová from the hall.
