ZMOS Agrees with Extending Local Governments' Term to Five Years after 2026

Partizanske, 28 October (TASR) - Local governments agree with extending their term to five years, if there is political consensus on the issue, chairman of the Slovak Towns and Villages Association (ZMOS) Jozef Bozik told TASR on Tuesday. The representatives of ZMOS, the Union of Slovak Cities (UMS) and the Association of Self-Governing Regions of Slovakia (SK8) discussed the issue of extending the term after the upcoming municipal election in 2026 with House Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD) on 20 October. "All three organisations agreed that if the government and the opposition are interested in unifying the rules, we would like to see five-year terms starting in 2026 also for mayors, local and municipal councils, regional governors and regional parliaments," said Bozik. If approved, the 2026 elections would be the first with a five-year term instead of four years, as is the case now. "ZMOS and SK8 originally planned that the term could be extended with effect from 2030, but given the discussion initiated by Prime Minister [Robert Fico], we are ready to talk about it, if he really means it," said Bozik. "However, we reject any extension of the current term, because that would be against the law and most likely against the Constitution," he said, adding that it would make sense to start from 2026, if there is political will. When meeting with Rasi, the local governments rejected the idea of extending the current term. Rasi said the debate was definitively closed, noting that next municipal election would take place as scheduled in 2026. The idea to postpone the municipal and regional elections by one year was introduced in October by Prime Minister Robert Fico during a congress of Smer-SD. He proposed moving the elections to 2027, after the parliamentary elections, arguing that local elections should also reflect the outcomes of the general elections. jrg