BRATISLAVA, November 27, (WEBNOVINY)- Prime Minister Iveta Radicova opines that it is necessary to give more weight to municipal elections. She is concerned about low turnout in Saturday’s elections to pick mayors and local councils saying she would be happy with more people coming to polling stations.
Radicova said that the opinion still prevails that Bratislava, the headquarters, the state, the government have the say in most important matters. She underscored that it is in the jurisdiction of municipalities what are the pavements and roads and how an elementary school, facilities or the construction office work. According to her these are the most important things influencing everyday life. “Therefore I would be glad if the turnout improves and if we gave more weight to these elections”, said the prime minister adding that she is doing her utmost to achieve that. The prime minister voted in the municipality of Nova Dedinka near Bratislava.
The prime minister criticizes negative pre-election campaign saying she never participated in such barnstorming. She underscored that it is important to point at missteps, corruption, nepotism, abuse of public power but it is unacceptable to abuse the campaign for personal attacks based on untrue information. She said that she has become a target of negative campaign in the presidential elections. She turned to law enforcement bodies which upheld her complaint.
Radicova said that during preparations of new election codes, her Cabinet is considering defining more precisely the limits that cannot be overstepped. The new codes should unify rules for all elections. The codes should define where the line is between morals, ethics and decency and lies and also define the difference between an ungrounded campaign and a campaign based on facts and arguments.
SITA
