IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Slovakia

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Presidential
2014

Slovakia
Slovak Republic
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Ivan GASPAROVIC
Head of Government: Prime Minister Robert FICO
Assembly: Slovakia has a unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic (Narodna Rada Slovenskej Republiky) with 150 seats.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.*
The Prime Minister is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
In the National Council of the Slovak Republic (Narodna Rada Slovenskej Republiky) 150 members are elected through a flexible-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

* Candidates for the presidency must be nominated by at least 15 members of parliament or through a petition of at least 15,000 voters.

*** Electors are given a separate ballot for each party, which they take into the voting booth. Each party ranks its candidates from one to the total number of candidates it is running. Electors cast one vote for their preferred party. In addition, they may cast up to four preferential votes on the ballot. Electors then place the ballot of their preferred party into an envelope, discarding the other ballots into a separate bin. Seat order is determined by the predetermined order of candidates on the party lists, updated by the count of preferential votes cast. There is a 5% threshold which every party must obtain, even if part of a larger coalition.