Constitutional Law / Droit constitutionnel 2007 Slovakia / Slovaquie

Constitutional Law / Droit constitutionnel

Slovakia / Slovaquie

Erik Láštic

Assistant Professor, Political Science Department, Faculty of Arts, Comenius Uni­versity, Bratislava, Slovakia

This constitutional update on Slovakia deals with the local direct democracy in the Slovak constitutional system. It provides a legal overview of the local democracy in­­struments, their development and local democracy experience so far. It analyzes Con­­sti­tutional Court’s decisions that provided for clearer usage of local direct de­mocracy by forcing local authorities to guarantee a fair review process. It argues that local direct democracy is a subject of an inconsistent legal development, with no system­atic effort being present while amending local democracy instruments. The result is a national legislature’s ability to restrict the direct democracy on local level in one year, while introducing a new tool for citizens in another, in both cases without extensive discussion on reasons for such amendments.