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SLOVAKIA
 COUNTRY  Slovak Republic
 ELECTION TYPE  Parliamentary
 DATE  September 20-21, 2002
At stake in this election:
  • 150 seats in the National Council of the Slovak Republic (Narodna rada Slovenskej republiky)
Description of government structure:
  • Chief of State: President Rudolf SCHUSTER
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Mikulas DZURINDA
  • Assembly: National Council of the Slovak Republic (Narodna rada Slovenskej republiky) consisting of 150 seats
Description of electoral structure:
  • President: The president is elected by direct popular vote for a five year term.
  • National Council: Members are elected through a proportional representation system to serve four-year terms
Main parties in the electoral races:

  • Party: Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)
    Leader: Vladimir MECIAR
    Seats won in this election: 36
    Seats won in last election: 43

  • Party: Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU)
    Leader: Mikulas DZURINDA
    Seats won in this election: 28
    Seats won in last election: 43 (as part of SDK - now defunct)

  • Party: SMER
    Leader: Robert FICO
    Seats won in this election: 25
    Seats won in last election: NA (new party)

  • Party: Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK)
    Leader: Bela BUGAR
    Seats won in this election: 20
    Seats won in last election: 15

  • Party: Alliance of a New Citizen (ANO)
    Leader: Pavol RUSKO
    Seats won in this election: 15
    Seats won in last election: NA (new party)

  • Party: Christian Democratic Movemebt (KDH)
    Leader: Pavol HRUSOVSKY
    Seats won in this election: 15
    Seats won in last election: 43 (as part of SDK, now defunct)

  • Party: Slovak Communist Party (KSS)
    Leader: Jozef Sevc
    Seats won in this election: 11
    Seats won in last election: 0
When was the last election?
  • September 25-26, 1998
Population and number of registered voters:
  • Population: 5,379,455 (May 2001)
  • Number of registered voters: 4,023,191 (1998)
Of Interest:
  • SMER was formed by Mr. FICO after he left the SDL (part of the governing coalition of 1998-2002 but now polling under 5% threshold) in 1999. Political analysts believed that SMER could receive a substantial percentage of the vote in these elections.
  • The SDK was formed in 1998 as a party encompassing five original parties - Christian Democrats (KDH), Democratic Union (DU) now mostly a part of the Dzurinda's SDKU, Green Party (SZS), Democratic Party (DS) and Social Democrats (SDSS). SDK fell gradually apart, rearranged itself to its original founding parties and creating SDKU in the process. SDK ceased to exist during the summer of 2002.
  • ANO was formed by Pavol RUSKO, majority owner of the most popular TV channel Markiza as a right-of-centre liberal party. Polls position the party among the players for the next governing coalition.
  • SOP and SDL are now other noncompetitive parties and replaced by SMER. SOP lost its clout after the forced departure of its Chairman Pavol HAMZIK from the position of the Deputy Prime Minister. SDL imploded after the departure of Peter Weiss (Chair, Foreign Relations Committee), Milan Ftacnik Minister of Education) and Jozef Stank (Minister of Defense), who formed SDA (Slovak Democratic Alliance) polling below the 5% threshold at this point.
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