PS: Gov't Preparing Changes to Rules for Voting from Abroad in General Elections

Bratislava, 24 February (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party claims that the government is preparing changes to the rules governing voting from abroad in general elections, viewing this as an attempt to restrict the right to vote, PS leader Michal Simecka told a news conference on Tuesday. The party has called on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and the government not to implement such amendments to the law. "Information suggests that the government intends to curb voting from abroad via a law on the conditions for exercising the right to vote. In practice, this would mean that instead of voting by mail, as is possible today, Slovak citizens living abroad would have to visit an embassy and cast their vote there," explained Simecka. Answering a journalist's question, he said that PS had obtained this information from several authorities and ministries. The party sees a clear intention on the part of the government behind the allegedly planned amendment to the law. Simecka pointed out that the people who voted from abroad in 2023 overwhelmingly didn't vote for Smer-SD, but for the parties of the current opposition. He specified that 60,000 people from 104 countries voted by mail from abroad, with 61 percent of them voting for PS. In total, 77 percent of these voters backed opposition parties, while only 6 percent voted for Smer-SD. Simecka stated that the premier will do his utmost to influence the outcome of the elections. In his opinion, the only way for him to do so is by bending the law and restricting voting rights. "I'd like to call on the premier and the government to refute the information that has reached us. They should state clearly that they aren't going to change the election law 18 months before the election," he said. At the same time, PS caucus head Zuzana Mesterova called on other parties that see such things not to remain silent. ko/df