Volume 8 Number 3

Summer 1999

Constitutional Watch
     A country-by-country update on constitutional politics in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR

Slovakia - Slovakia's political and constitutional development was dominated this quarter by the ongoing investigation of various crimes perpetrated during former prime minister Vladimir Meciar's regime and by its first direct presidential election. Both processes are widely seen as steps toward the consolidation of Slovakian democracy, significantly improving the country's chances of reaching two of its principal foreign-policy goals, full membership in NATO and the EU.

The target of the first investigation is former interior minister Gustav Krajci, charged with sabotaging the 1997 referendum on both NATO membership and the creation of direct presidential elections in Slovakia. More precisely, he is accused of having abused his power while serving as the deputy chair of the Central Electoral Commission, first, by deleting from the ballot a question about direct presidential elections and, second, by using the commission's official seal to validate the altered ballot without the knowledge or consent of the other commission members. (For more on this botched referendum, see Slovakia Update, EECR, Vol. 6, Nos. 2/3, Spring/Summer 1997.) On February 24, Krajci was stripped of his parliamentary immunity, otherwise granted by Art. 78.2 of the Constitution.

The central figure in the second investigation is the former chief of the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS), Ivan Lexa, implicated in the 1995 kidnapping of the son of former president Michal Kovac. (See Slovakia Update, EECR, Vol. 4, No. 4, Fall 1995.) After the new SIS chief, Vladimir Mitro, presented a special report on the case to a closed session of parliament, on February 26, Jaroslav Ivor, the senior investigator in the affair, officially requested the parliamentary chairman to hold a vote to strip Lexa, as well, of his immunity. (See Slovakia Update, EECR, Vol. 8, Nos. 1/2, Winter/ Spring 1999.) On April 8, his immunity was lifted. In addition to his involvement in the Kovac case, Lexa is charged with the illegal sale of church property, planting an explosive device at an opposition rally, the unauthorized bugging of cellular phones, and failing to report the theft of a vehicle. Ivor also argued that, because Lexa was likely to use his influence and contacts to tamper with witnesses, he should be detained. The Ministry of Interior asked parliament for permission to issue an arrest warrant for Lexa (Art. 78). After a parliamentary vote, permission was given, the warrant was issued, and, on April 15, Lexa was taken into custody. On April 22, Ivor announced that the testimony of Jaroslav Svechota, who had served as LexaÕs deputy, implicated Lexa as the mastermind behind the kidnapping. The magistrate also stated that nine other secret-service agents were in custody for their role in the kidnapping. In addition, Ivor informed the country that a parallel secret service still existed in Slovakia and that its agents were working actively to obstruct his investigation.

Both cases figured prominently in the presidential campaign. For example, former prime minister Vladimir Meciar (Movement for Democratic Slovakia [MDS]) is said to have entered the presidential raceÑjust a few hours before the registration deadline expired and despite his earlier vow that he was leaving politics for good) because a victory would allow him to grant Lexa amnesty (Art. 102). After the 1998 parliamentary elections, it should be remembered, Meciar ceded Lexa his parliamentary seat, with its attendant parliamentary immunityÑa protective shield that, as we saw, proved ephemeral. Meciar's late entry into the race was quite exceptional, as most of the other candidates had already begun their campaigns. Among them, a clear favorite was Rudolf Schuster, mayor of Kosice, leader of the Party for Civic Understanding (PCU), and the nominee of the ruling coalition. (The ruling coalition comprises the Slovak Democratic Coalition [SDC], PCU, the Party of the Democratic Left [PDL], and the Party of the Hungarian Coalition [PHC].) Schuster had held important positions in the Communist Party in the 1980s and was the chairman of the last parliament before the regime change, serving from November 1989 until the first free elections in June 1990. Later, he was to become ambassador to Canada. Magda Vasaryova, a former ambassador to Austria and a popular actress who ended her screen career ten years ago, also entered the race as an independent. Former president Michal Kovac also began the race but withdrew, on May 11, in Schuster's favor. In addition to Meciar, the opposition was represented by Jan Slota, leader of the extreme right-wing Slovak National Party (SNP), who was nominated by 15 deputies, including, surprisingly, two whose parties are in the governing coalition.

According to the Law on Direct Presidential Elections, which parliament adopted on March 18, candidates are nominated by at least 15 deputies or by a petition signed by at least 15,000 citizens. A runoff is held if no candidate draws a majority of votes in the first round. A limit on each candidate's total campaign spending was imposed (4 million crowns, or approximately $100,000), and the names of individuals donating more than 10,000 crowns and companies donating more than 100,000 crowns must be made public. The law also fixed the length of the electoral campaign: it begins 15 days before the election and ends 48 hours before the polls open. Each candidate was guaranteed between one and ten hours of coverage on state-owned radio and television. In addition, candidates could buy up to ten hours of television time on privately owned stations, provided the broadcast material was clearly labeled as paid political advertising.

The presidential campaign was rather moderate, although both MDS and SNP played the nationalist card, a strategy that attracts roughly 30 percent of the electorate. First, SNP attempted to file a no-confidence motion against the government of Mikulas Dzurinda, arguing that the cabinet's decision to open Slovakia's airspace to NATO air strikes against Serbia violated the Constitution, a charge seconded by Meciar's MDS. The government responded that Art. 119 of the Constitution grants the executive the prerogative to make such important foreign-policy decisions. (Article 119.g states that the government, as a body, decides on principal questions of domestic and foreign policy.) Opposition parties also sought to discredit Schuster by accusing him of pandering to the interests of the Hungarian minority. During the 1998 general elections, Schuster campaigned relentlessly among ethnic Hungarians on behalf of the anti-Meciar coalition. Moreover, PHC endorsed his candidacy. Just a few days before the presidential election, aggressive nationalist leaflets opposing Schuster were distributed; they contained the following appeal: don't let Hungarians elect a Slovak president instead of us! In the first round, Schuster drew 47 percent of the vote, followed by Vladimir Meciar with 37 percent; Vasaryova was a distant third with 6 percent (even though, according to the last opinion poll, she enjoyed the support of 17 percent of the electorate), and Slota gained only 2 percent. Turnout in the first round was 74 percent of eligible voters.

Schuster and Meciar advanced to the second round, which was held on May 29. Schuster won a decisive victory, garnering a full 57 percent of the vote against Meciar's 43 percent (turnout was 75 percent). Although the Slovak presidency is a largely ceremonial position, direct popular election of the head of state affords the office greater political stature than it previously enjoyed. Schuster announced he would continue to pursue the pro-Western policies initiated by the new government and urged the governing coalition to press on with economic reforms. In the short run, however, he and Dzurinda's government probably will face tough economic challenges. As the presidential campaign proceeded, the national currency was devalued by 25 percent, unemployment grew, and the government's austerity program fueled popular apprehension.

Several weeks before the September 1998 general elections, the then opposition challenged before the Constitutional Court the amendments to the electoral law passed by the MDS majority in May 1998. (See Slovakia Update, EECR, Vol. 7, No. 3, Summer 1998.) But the justices did not rule on the petition at that time, apparently because they were wary that a decision announced on the eve the elections would breed confusion and chaos, as was the case when the Court intervened just before the 1997 referendum on NATO and direct presidential elections. (See Slovakia Update, EECR, Vol. 7, No. 3, Summer 1998.) On March 18, the Court finally rendered its decision. According to the justices, the law's provision banning radio and television campaigning in the privately owned media was unconstitutional. Milan Cic, chairman of the Court, argued that the provision unduly restricted the public's right to information, as well as the rights of holders of private radio and television licenses to free speech. In addition, the Court found unconstitutional the provision that established fines for print and electronic media that violate the rules of the electoral campaign. The Court also held that political parties should be allowed to represent themselves during trial proceedings if their registration is challenged before a court. (In the previous version of the law, the Central Electoral Commission could refuse to register a party list, and this decision could be appealed before the Supreme Court, though the representatives of the aggrieved party could not take part in the proceedings. Their exclusion, along with the fact that the Supreme Court is dominated by Meciar loyalists, cast doubts on the whole process of party registration.) Finally, the Court invalidated a provision that granted political parties the right to choose replacements for deputies whose seats become vacant. The issue was the following: If a vacancy occurs, should it automatically be filled by the next candidate on the party list or should the party have a free hand in selecting a replacement? Meciar's law granted to the political parties the right to choose replacements. The Court declared the provision unconstitutional, arguing that the legislature's composition should be determined by the will of the citizens not that of the parties.

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Meanwhile, the government has resolved to meet the requirements for Slovakia's admission to the EU and NATO and to rectify the democratic deficit that characterized Slovak politics during the Meciar years. In particular, Dzurinda's cabinet must now push through a minority-language law. Minority rights are guaranteed in the Constitution in Art. 34: The comprehensive development of citizens representing national minorities or ethnic groups in the Slovak Republic is guaranteed, particularly the right to develop their own culture, [and,] together with other members of the minority or ethnic group, the right to disseminate and receive information in their mother tongue, the right to associate in national minority associations, and the right to set up and maintain educational and cultural institutions. Details will be set out in a law. In addition to the obligation to master the state language, citizens belonging to national minorities or ethnic groups also have, under conditions defined by law, a guaranteed (a) right to education in their own language, (b) right to use their language in dealings with the authorities, (c) right to participate in the solution of affairs concerning national minorities and ethnic groups.

The government had originally planned to pass the law in April. But its adoption was postponed because the ruling coalition feared that the nationalist parties could exploit the sensitive nature of the minority issue during the presidential campaign. Current debate centers on the percentage of the population of villages or towns that a minority must represent for its language to be accorded equal status. (Hungarians are the largest minority in Slovakia, constituting approximately 11 percent of the total population. But their proportion is much greater in certain villages. Equal-language status would provide the legal basis for using of the minority language, as enshrined in the Constitution in, for example, schools, courts, and local government bodies.) Initially, the threshold for a village or town was set at 20 percent; later, however, PHC demanded that it be lowered to 10 percent. For some deputies of the ruling coalition (for example, Robert Fico of PDL), this demand is unacceptable. But the higher percentage requirement would have few practical consequences and would probably exclude only about three additional villages from granting equal status to the Hungarian language. Moreover, the lower cutoff would not grant language rights to any other minority group. (There are several other minority groups in Slovakia, including Roma, Germans, and Czechs, but none constitutes more than a few percent of the total population.) The cabinet hopes that the bill can be approved by mid-July. EU representatives have repeatedly stated that its adoption is the last hurdle Slovakia must clear in order to join the group of fast-track countries.

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