BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovaks forged their ballots Saturday in a referendum to resolve whether or not to cancel lifelong funds for populist Prime Minister Robert Fico and different leaders after their phrases in workplace expire.
They have been additionally voting on whether or not to reopen the workplace of the particular prosecutor and the Nationwide Prison Company, which each handled main crime and corruption.
The referendum follows a petition organized by the Democrats, a non-parliamentary pro-Western opposition social gathering, and was signed by greater than 350,000 residents within the nation of 5.4 million, the brink required by regulation.
Just one referendum in Slovakia’s historical past — the 2003 vote on the nation’s European Union membership — was profitable. Others failed as a result of low turnout.
Polls instructed Saturday’s turnout wouldn’t attain the required 50%.
Slovak prime ministers and parliament audio system who served a minimum of two phrases in workplace are entitled to obtain a lifelong fee — a month-to-month sum that equals the salaries of lawmakers in Parliament — as a part of measures to spice up safety for main politicians.
The funds have been launched following a 2024 assassination try on Fico, who was shot and gravely wounded after a authorities assembly, stunning the small nation and reverberating throughout Europe. The profit was offered solely to former presidents earlier than 2024.
Earlier in 2024, Slovak lawmakers accepted a plan by Fico’s coalition authorities to abolish the particular prosecutors’ workplace, which handles critical crimes comparable to graft, organized crime and extremism and the federal government additionally dismantled the police unit coping with such crimes.
The laws confronted sharp criticism at residence and overseas, and hundreds of Slovaks repeatedly took to the streets to protest the regulation. Quite a few folks linked to Fico’s social gathering confronted prosecution in corruption scandals.
Fico has been a divisive determine since returning to energy in 2023. His pro-Russian and different insurance policies prompted quite a few protests.
Fico mentioned he wouldn’t vote on this referendum.
