State Electoral Commission Confirms Referendum Not Valid, Turnout Was 16.13% (2)

Bratislava, 5 July (TASR) - The State Electoral Commission on Sunday morning confirmed that the Saturday's (4 July) referendum failed, on account of the low voter turnout of 16.13 percent. The participation of more than 50 percent of voters was needed. From a total of 4,369,989 eligible voters, 705,227 cast their ballots in the referendum, of which 698,757 were valid. Voters cast their ballots in 5,545 precincts. A total of 5,218 votes were delivered from abroad via postal voting, making up 0.73 percent of the voter turnout. The question whether they agree with scrapping the so-called lifetime annuity granted under the law to certain constitutional office holders, including, for example, Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), was answered positively by 93.43 percent of those who came to polling stations. Meanwhile, 5.32 percent of voters expressed their disagreement with it. As for the second question, whether they agree with restoring the Special Prosecutor's Office and the National Crime Agency (NAKA), 92.23 percent of voters chose the answer 'yes', while 6.07 percent chose the answer 'no'. Statistics Office chairman Martin Nemky announced that the highest voter turnout of 21.84 percent was posted in Bratislava region, while the lowest turnout of 13.4 percent was reported in Kosice region. Concerning districts, the highest turnout of 24.18 percent was recorded in the district of Senec (Bratislava region), while the lowest one of 7.91 percent was seen in the district of Revuca (Banska Bystrica region). In the tenth referendum in independent Slovakia's history, voters were deciding on two questions: whether to abolish the so-called lifetime annuity granted under the law to certain constitutional office holders, including, for example, Premier Fico, and whether to restore the Special Prosecutor's Office and the National Crime Agency. The petition for the referendum was initiated by the extra-parliamentary Democrats party. It wanted to have three questions in it, but the question concerning the demand to shorten the electoral term ultimately wasn't part of the referendum. President Peter Pellegrini didn't include this question in it, as he believed that it contradicts to the Slovak Constitution. In line with the Slovak Constitution, the results of a referendum are valid if more than half of eligible voters take part in it and if the decision is adopted by an absolute majority of referendum participants. NOTE: This story has been extended to include paragraphs 2-6. ko