UMS: Discussion on Moving Local Elections Irrelevant (2)

Bratislava, 4 September (TASR) – The discussion about rescheduling local elections is irrelevant, as the current coalition does not hold a constitutional majority, the Union of Slovak Towns and Cities (UMS) pointed out on Thursday. However, UMS is open to negotiating a possible extension of the term for mayors, local councillors, and city leaders to five years — starting only from 2030. UMS spokesperson Daniela Pirsellova told this to TASR in response to recent claims regarding a government proposal to change the date of local elections. She clarified that UMS has not received any formal requests for a position on such a government proposal. „A legal analysis we commissioned clearly concludes that extending the term of office is not possible without a decision from a constitutional majority in Parliament. Since the current coalition does not have such a majority, we consider this discussion irrelevant," the spokesperson added. Vice-president of UMS and Bratislava mayor Matus Vallo, also commented on the matter. „It may be legitimate to discuss how long the term of local representatives should be, but this should not be done one year before the current term ends," he said. He also emphasised the need for broader societal discussion. Vallo warned that combining local elections with parliamentary elections would result in important local issues being overshadowed by national political debates. He sees this as harmful to democracy. The non-parliamentary party Democrats was the first to raise concerns about a possible plan to move the local elections. According to their information, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) intends to merge local elections with the parliamentary ones. A statement from Smer-SD provided to TASR confirms that the coalition might consider addressing the issue of rescheduling the local elections. mf