President: Debate on Change of Electoral System Should Go Aside for Now

(STVR, 'O 5 minut 12', November 17) Debate on change of the electoral or political system in Slovakia should go aside for now, President Peter Pellegrini said on STVR's discussion programme 'O 5 minut 12' (Five Minutes to Twelve) on Sunday. The president rejected Premier Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) intention to increase the quorum for parties to make it to parliament. He thinks that Slovakia is currently facing different challenges and problems. "The premier said he can imagine as high as 7-percent quorum for parties to make it to parliament. This would be an extreme, as no democratic country in our neighbourhood has it and it would be one of the highest limits even in the whole EU. I see it as preventing people's access to democracy, as then it would only be the domain of big parties," he said. The head of the state called for a dialogue between the government and citizens. "I have witnessed many well-meant things, but the state or a minister failed to explain them to the people in advance," he noted. Pellegrini thinks, for example, that the reasons for the scrapping the Special Prosecutor's Office should have been explained to the people better. The discussion also touched the incident that resulted in pressing charges against a Kosice police officer for killing a detained person. According to the president, so far it looks like it was an individual failure, not a systemic problem. He plans to discuss the issue with Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD). Based on the information available to him, Pellegrini doesn't think that Sutaj Estok would bear responsibility for it. Pellegrini again criticised the government for its failure to organise official celebrations to mark the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. He highlighted its message and called for reconciliation and respect. ko