House: Debate on Voting from Abroad Interrupted, Danko Orders Mesterova Out

Bratislava, 24 April (TASR) - The parliamentary debate on draft legislation to amend the rules for voting from abroad, sponsored by the coalition Smer-SD party, was interrupted on Friday. This happened during a speech by House Vice-chair Tibor Gaspar (Smer-SD). MPs for the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party had brought sheets bearing signatures for a petition that they've launched against restricting voting from abroad. House Vice-chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS), who chaired the session, ordered PS caucus head Zuzana Mesterova out of the chamber, reproaching her for disrupting the course of the proceedings and bringing visual aids into the chamber. In his speech, Gaspar stressed that the amendment is intended to change the method of voting from abroad, not scrap it. "Until now, we've voted by postal ballots, and now we are proposing that voting should take place at our diplomatic missions," he said. He defended the change by saying that postal voting appears to be unreliable. He pointed out that some envelopes from the 2023 general election are still arriving in Slovakia and claimed that postal voting fails to meet the condition of directness and secrecy. "You can't be sure to what extent the postal ballot is actually placed in the envelope and expresses the view of the person registered as the voter," said Gaspar. The opposition has repeatedly criticised the amendment. PS MPs brought sheets with signatures opposing the proposed change to the House session. Danko warned them several times during Gaspar's speech that they had brought visual aids into the chamber, thereby violating the parliamentary rules of procedure. He ultimately ordered Zuzana Mesterova to leave the chamber. ko/df