Opposition Protest against Proposed Changes to Voting from Abroad Taking Place

Bratislava, 14 April (TASR) - An opposition protest against proposed changes in voting from abroad in parliamentary elections is taking place on Tuesday evening in front of the Parliament building. Lawmakers are set to discuss the proposal at the current session. The protest has been organised by the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party, and the opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) and Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) parties, as well as the extra-parliamentary Democrats, have joined in. Representatives of the compatriots welcome the protest, appealing to lawmakers not to vote for measures that would hinder the exercise of voting rights and to protect the integrity of the electoral process for all Slovak citizens without distinction. "[Premier] Robert Fico [Smer-SD] wants to cement his grip on power," stated PS leader Michal Simecka, adding that everything must be done to ensure the bill doesn't pass. "Slovakia can't become Fico's autocracy," he noted. In addition to Bratislava, protests against the proposed changes to voting from abroad are also scheduled for Tuesday evening in Kosice, Banska Bystrica, Prague, and Brussels. Some expatriate associations have pointed out that the option to vote by mail is not a privilege reserved for any particular party, but an essential tool of a modern state that values its citizens and wishes to stay in touch with them. They warn that switching from voting by mail to voting at embassies presents an insurmountable logistical barrier for thousands of citizens. "During short trips abroad, it is unlikely that a citizen will have time to travel to the nearest diplomatic mission, especially in countries where Slovakia has no diplomatic representation. We view such a step as a direct hindrance to access the ballot box and a weakening of democratic participation," they noted, adding that the proposal to abolish voting by mail goes directly against the interests of citizens and ignores more than 100,000 signatures on petitions that in recent years have called for the exact opposite - the modernisation and expansion of voting by mail. am