Referendum on early elections: The case of Slovakia in the European context

Abstract

Summary The referendum initiative of 2021 is the fourth attempt in Slovakia to call a referendum on early parliamentary elections in less than 30 years. The aim of this article is to answer the question of whether the shortening of the parliamentary term by referendum is in accordance with the Slovak Constitution. Since the shortening of parliamentary term by referendum is a constitutional issue which is a question of identity common to all European democracies, the authors analyse the existence of such direct democracy instrument in the Council of Europe member states and compare the relevant constitutional framework with the Slovak Constitution. The authors’ opinion is that the referendum on early elections contradicts not only several constitutional provisions, but also the overall philosophy of the Slovak Constitution and Western-type democracy.