BRATISLAVA, April 21, (WEBNOVINY) — Deputies of the Ordinary People from the SaS parliamentary faction want to submit an amendment to the law on parliamentary elections to parliament and they will only establish their own party if their effort to enact it fails. Independent MP and the Ordinary People leader Igor Matovic specified that, based on the amendment they suggest, there should also be a list of independent MPs in alphabetical order in addition to standard political parties tickets for voters to choose from in parliamentary elections. However, voters would not be able to vote for the straight ticket but will have to choose a limited number of candidates, to whom they would give their vote. “The number of votes given to independent deputies would be summed up after elections and based on this number, the number of seats in parliament would be calculated. People with the highest number of votes would become members of parliament,” Matovic explained for SITA news agency.
Matovic added with regard to this initiative that the reduction in the number of lawmakers to half of their current number would also be desirable but such change would require amending the Constitution, which stipulates that the National Council has 150 MPs. Matovic has not discussed his ideas with Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic (KDH), who is responsible for preparation of the new Electoral Code. “We are trying to win support for the idea in SaS but the party does not support our initiative at all, it makes their hair stand on end,” he said. He said that a similar situation is also with the other coalition and opposition parties. “They cannot imagine that some independent candidate would take their seat in parliament,” explains independent MP.
Matovic does not accept there should be concern that a parliament comprising independent deputies without party affiliation may have problems to come to an agreement on solutions. “If they went through such sieve, they would definitely approach their mandate more responsibly,” opines Matovic regarding potential functioning of independent deputies.
Although Ordinary People will submit their amendment to the law on parliamentary elections to parliament, they can also collect signatures for their new party in the meantime. “If the amendment is passed, we will throw the signatures into the waste basket,” said Matovic and added that he finds such possibility very unlikely. “There is no chance, as the saying goes, carps will not let the water out of their own pond,” he thinks.
Matovic does not think that his party of deputies without party affiliation would turn into a standard party bound by regulations, rules and subordination of members to the chairman over time, since he would not demand membership from candidates. Matovic would like to realize selection and order of candidates on a ticket via primary elections about one year ahead of elections. Everyone who would like to make it to the ticket of Matovic’ party would participate in these primary elections. He does not mind the possibility that he would place low on the ticket. “I do not have a problem with being listed last, I have experience with that,” explained Matovic with a smile. He and his three friends from the Ordinary People group were elected to parliament on the SaS party list as four last names on the 150-member list.
SITA