Slovakia’s Fico Pushes Voting Changes After Orbán Ousted In Hungary

By Natália Silenská

(EurActiv) — Robert Fico, Slovakia’s strongman leader, is pushing through a series of controversial electoral reforms ahead of next year’s elections, sparking outrage over the fairness of the country’s voting system.

Facing mounting pressure at home – from rising living costs, economic stagnation, dashed voter expectations and now the Hungarian precedent – Fico’s fourth government has in recent weeks advanced several proposals targeting Slovakia’s electoral rules.

Two of them – abolishing postal voting and extending the term of local governments – are currently in parliament, triggering protests on Tuesday under the slogan “They will not take our elections”, alongside a petition signed by more than 93,000 people.

Although Slovaks living abroad made up less than 2% of voters in the 2023 parliamentary election – around 59,000 people – they overwhelmingly backed pro-European opposition parties, which secured 82% of their votes. Parties aligned with the current government received just 12%.

The moves follow the electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán, one of Fico’s clostes allies, fuelling concerns in Bratislava that similar dynamics could now play out at home.

“I firmly believe that after Viktor Orbán, Robert Fico will be next,” said Slovak liberal opposition leader Michal Šimečka following the Hungarian parliamentary elections.

Figures from the ruling coalition have openly acknowledged the imbalance. Roman Michelko, chair of the parliamentary group of the far-right SNS, a junior member of the ruling coalition, said in March that votes from abroad are “extremely advantageous for the opposition” and argued that voting at embassies would be “more balanced”.

Critics warn that scrapping postal voting would significantly curb participation, forcing many Slovaks abroad to travel long distances or pay for costly flights to vote – in one of the EU’s poorest countries by GDP per capita.

Illiberal brainstorming

Other proposals include extending the term of local governments from four to five years, as well as raising the electoral deposit for parties from €17,000 to around €40,500.

Fico has also floated increasing the electoral threshold from 5% to 7% or higher, a move that could sideline smaller opposition parties. However, this proposal currently faces resistance from smaller coalition partners, the populist Hlas-SD and SNS, which themselves risk falling short of a higher bar.

Another proposal floated in March is the introduction of a “state of emergency” – a category between peacetime and wartime allowing military intervention. Pro-EU opposition parties warnthe move direction mirrors past developments in Hungary, where emergency powers have helped entrench Viktor Orbán’s long-term rule, raising broader concerns about democratic standards in the region.

Given the sensitivity of the topic, Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has called for a roundtable with both coalition and opposition parties.

Several of these changes would require the 90 seats necessary to adopt constitutional amendments and are unlikely to pass without opposition support.