SNS Suggests Extending Term of Parliament and Local Governments to Five Years

Bratislava, 1 April (TASR) - The junior coalition Slovak National Party (SNS) has proposed extending the electoral term of parliament from four to five years, suggesting the same for the terms of local governments. SNS wants to achieve this via an amendment to the Slovak Constitution. It's already submitted a respective draft to Parliament. At least 90 votes are needed for approval. "The aim of the proposed legislation is to extend the term in office of local government bodies, namely mayors of towns and villages, regional governors, municipal and regional councillors, and to extend the electoral term of MPs from the current four years to five years," explained the group of MPs for SNS who sponsored the draft. The MPs argued that the current electoral cycle for local-government bodies often doesn't allow strategic local and regional development projects to be implemented effectively. "In several cases, it's been shown that the short duration of a four-year term has led to the halting or fundamental revision of projects due to changes in the leadership of municipalities and regions, resulting in inefficient use of public funds and the failure to achieve strategic regional development goals," they said. If approved, the changes would come into force early next year. Five-year terms would therefore apply to candidates who succeed in elections held after 1 January 2027. "Electoral terms that began before this constitutional law entered into force will be completed under the current rules," said SNS. A proposal to extend the electoral terms of local-government bodies from four to five years is already before Parliament. This proposal envisages extending the terms in office of local governments as of 15 June of this year, meaning that it would also apply to this year's joint local and regional elections. However, the proposal doesn't address extending the term of the national parliament. It's backed by a group of MPs from the coalition Voice-SD party and Independent MP Roman Malatinec. ko/df