BRATISLAVA, April 2, (WEBNOVINY)- The opposition SMER-SD does not agree with Justice Ministry nominating members of the selection commissions for prosecutor elections. Party deputy chairman Robert Kalinak suggested in the Saturday Dialogues discussion program on Slovak Radio to involve also the president, parliament and even the government in nominating prosecutors, for the sake of real and not pretended transparency. Speaker of Parliament and SaS leader Richard Sulik gave assurances to Kalinak that the coalition is willing to speak about the opposition’s reservations. He told Kalinak that if they have concrete suggestions they should propose them or submit them in writing or met over them. Sulik thinks that if the suggestions are reasonable the coalition will not oppose them at any price only because they come from the opposition.
In changing the prosecutor general election from a secret vote to a public one the coalition wants to enact the rule that the prosecutor general can run only for one election term. Also the Venice Commission supports the proposal as it would mean political independence of the prosecutor general from MPs who voted for him. Kalinak however suggested that it would be really democratic if a direct prosecutor election would take place as it is the case in the United States . “Let’s the citizens pick their district prosecutor in order to perfectly advocate their interests,” said Kalinak. Sulik likes the idea, too. but he is concerned about voters‘ apathy. He underscored that election turnout was 18-20 percent in the EP election and thus he expects that 10 percent or even less of the electorate would attend prosecutor elections. He also pointed to the long-term problem in Slovakia with buying Roma votes.
SITA
