BRATISLAVA, November 27, (WEBNOVINY) – On Saturday, Slovakia is picking representatives of 2,926 villages and towns for the next four-year term. Polling stations throughout Slovakia are open since 7:00 while voting end at 20:00. The municipalities were allowed to open polling stations earlier, however they have to close them at 20:00.
There are over 4 million people eligible to vote in these elections for whom altogether 5,952 polling stations are open on Saturday. Every person with permanent residence in Slovakia who is 18 or older is eligible to vote for representatives this Saturday. Voters do not need to be citizens of Slovakia; they can also be foreign citizens with permanent residence.
Voters receive two ballot papers on Saturday – one for election of a mayor and one for election of municipal council representatives. However, the situation is different in Bratislava and Kosice, where voters vote four times: they elect their city mayor, city councilors, district mayor and district council members.
About 34,400 first-time voters are expected to take part in the elections. Moreover, about 310,00 people will for the first time ever elect their mayors and local councilors. These are people who were under 18 In the 2006 municipal elections and thus they could not vote.
Since 1990 when the first free municipal elections were held in Slovakia, election turnout has been shrinking. While the 1990 turnout was 63.75 percent, in 1998 it fell to 53.95 percent while in the last municipal race 47.65 percent of the electorate cast a ballot.
The voting system is one of differences between the ongoing municipal elections and parliamentary elections. Unlike in parliamentary elections, where the system of proportional representation is applied, the first-past-the-post voting system or a majority voting system is used in municipal elections, which means that the candidate who wins a relative majority of votes, not absolute majority, is elected.
The first, unofficial results are expected to be published shortly after polling stations close on Saturday at 20:00. Official results will be published the morning after the elections. The results will be published on the Statistics Office’s website www.statistics.sk and on external website www.volbysr.sk. Slovakia’s municipal elections will cost EUR 9 million.
SITA
