Voice-SD Will Propose Reduction in State Contribution to Parties for Elections

Bratislava, November 12 (TASR) - The junior coalition Voice-SD party will propose to reduce the amount of the state financial contribution that political parties receive for the outcome of the parliamentary election, the party's press department told TASR on Tuesday, reiterating that it wants greater representation of the regions in Parliament. In response to Prime Minister Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) intention to change the political system in Slovakia, Voice-SD MPs Miroslav Cellar and Roman Malatinec also stated that they don't consider the increase in the quorum to seven percent to be a good idea. By proposing to reduce the amount of the state financial contribution to political parties, Voice-SD wants to ensure that political parties also participate in consolidation measures. The party is expected to present the plan next year. Voice-SD refers to its idea of changing the electoral system, which it presented at its programme conference in October. "We want the Slovak people to be represented in Parliament by politicians they know and who know about the problems people in their region are facing. This is the best way to put the power back in the hands of the people," the Voice-SD press department said in response to the prime minister. According to Voice-SD, the quorum of five percent is also standard in neighbouring countries. "To change it to seven percent with regard to the support of political parties at the moment would mean not to make a multi-party system, but a system of, say, two or three parties," said Cellar, who is chairman of the House constitutional committee. Slovak National Party (SNS) MP Roman Michelko disagrees with the premier's proposal. "Increasing the quorum would mean that a significant part of political views wouldn't be represented in Parliament. It would be a weakening of democracy at the expense of easier governance. This is unacceptable," he told TASR. Over the weekend, the prime minister spoke about the need to change the political system. He could imagine an increase in the electoral quorum for parties to enter Parliament from five to seven percent or an increase in the electoral deposit to €500,000 from today's €17,000. am/mcs