Michelko: Four Preferential Votes Too Many for Some Parties

Bratislava, 15 October (TASR) – Thursday's session of Parliament ended with MPs debating an amendment to the bill governing the exercise of voting rights, which addresses changes to voting from abroad. Roman Michelko, head of the Slovak National Party (SNS) parliamentary caucus, submitted an amendment proposing to reduce the number of preferential votes available to voters in parliamentary elections from four to two. Michelko said the change was intended to strengthen the role of preferential voting as a means of selecting individual candidates. "It is becoming clear that allowing four preference votes is a serious mistake in case of some parties," he said. He also wants to improve the quality of Parliament's composition. “It's good to introduce correction for voters of certain parties,” he said. "I supported (the concept of) parties setting the order of their candidates, with voters determining the final ranking, until I entered Parliament. Then I saw the horror that some voters of certain parties elect into office," he said. He is convinced the change would increase the weight of each vote. Michelko said his ideal electoral system would allow voters to choose MPs from different party lists across the political spectrum. He also spoke of his personal motivation for promoting the proposal and what he described as one MP's obsession with him. MP Jozef Procko (Slovakia–For the People) responded that he would never say that any MP should not be in Parliament. He said no one had ever praised his work in such a way before, as Michelko's remarks had been directed at him. Other opposition MPs also criticised the SNS caucus leader's speech. MP Lucia Plavakova (Progressive Slovakia) said she was surprised that Michelko's personal motivation for changing the law appeared to stem solely from his dislike of a single MP. She said she did not understand why he believed voters needed fewer preference votes. MP Marian Caucik (KDH) criticised Michelko's argument that, just as children should be protected from alcohol, voters of certain parties should be protected from their own decisions. "In a democracy, we should trust voters, not protect them from their own choices," he underlined. Ondrej Dostal (SaS) told the SNS that it was treating voters as people lacking the capacity to make their own decisions. Michelko, he said, wanted party leaderships to have greater influence over the make-up of Parliament than voters themselves. "There's no other rationale behind your proposal," he said. mf