President Wants to See Specific Proposal on Changes to Voting from Abroad

Bratislava, 30 March (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini wants to wait for a concrete proposal and justification regarding the coalition's plan to modify voting from abroad, as he considers it important to preserve voting from abroad in parliamentary elections, TASR learnt on Monday. Any potential change to the method of voting is, in his view, a technical matter. Speaking at a press conference to address the coalition's plan to replace postal voting with voting at embassies, Pellegrini underlined the need to guarantee access to voting. "I would never agree, and fortunately I believe this isn't even planned, to abolish voting from abroad as such ... The way in which voting from abroad is carried out is just a technical question, though," he said. The president believes that the debate on adjusting overseas voting shouldn't turn into a heated discussion. "What matters is that people abroad have the right to vote. If the government guarantees that this voting will be accessible and that there will be enough polling stations in countries where most Slovaks live, I don't see a problem, but I don't want to speculate in advance," he added. Pellegrini also pointed out that European countries regulate voting from abroad in different ways, and that in many countries voting is only possible at embassies. "It doesn't mean that if voting abroad is allowed at embassies, there is only one polling station in the whole country, located in the capital," he remarked. In this context, he referred to coalition arguments that postal voting may not meet the principle of a secret ballot. At the same time, he said that he believes that voting from abroad should also be extended to presidential elections. A proposal to abolish postal voting from abroad in parliamentary elections is expected to be submitted to Parliament at the next session starting on 14 April. This was announced in February by Parliamentary vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD), who said that the proposal is being prepared by Smer-SD. It isn't yet clear whether it will be submitted as a parliamentary or government bill. The plan to replace postal voting with voting at embassies has been defended with reference to concerns about potential election manipulation, including via postal voting. mf/df