Fico: Coalition Has Never Considered Raising Parliamentary Entry Threshold

Bratislava, 18 March (TASR) - The coalition has never considered raising the parliamentary entry threshold, stated Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) on Wednesday, describing claims by opposition representatives regarding the governing coalition's plan to increase the threshold as lies. "The opposition has come up with another lie today. The governing coalition allegedly intends to increase the threshold for a political party to enter Parliament from 5 to 7 or even 10 percent. They have no evidence for this; they only claim to have heard it. The opposition not only invented this blatant lie because it has nothing else to address the public with; it immediately began elaborating on it in detail, with Christian Democrats [KDH] making a fuss about the theft of democracy and Progressive Slovakia [PS] already organising a joint slate while also offering other nonsense," said Fico. The premier stated that the coalition has never contemplated increasing the threshold. "The only thing being addressed is the abolition of postal voting from abroad, replacing it with standard secret ballot at the relevant diplomatic mission or other designated polling station," added Fico. He asked opposition representatives which of the coalition partners, except for Smer-SD, would even vote for an increased threshold. "Voice-SD or perhaps the Slovak National Party [SNS]? There's no common sense in this," he added. Earlier on Wednesday, KDH warned that the governing coalition is planning to increase the threshold for parties to enter Parliament after elections from 5 to 7 percent, with coalition MPs allegedly saying that it could go up to as much as 10 percent. KDH described the move as a serious restriction on electoral competition, warning that several hundred thousand votes could be lost in elections. According to PS leader Michal Simecka, his party is ready to offer its opposition partners a broad electoral coalition for the 2027 general election if the threshold is increased. jrg/df