Politics

The Slovak Republic has been an independent republic with a parliamentary-democratic system of government since 1.1.1993. The constitution, which came into force on September 3, 1992, guarantees the internationally recognized basic and human rights and regulates, among other things, the protection of minorities.

The head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces is the president, who is directly elected for a period of 5 years (one re-election possible), since March 2019 the Zuzana Čaputová (* 1973) of the social-liberal party »Progressive Slovakia«. He is accountable to parliament, represents the country externally, signs laws and has a veto right against legislative decisions, which he has to make use of at the request of the government. The legislature lies with the National Council (Národná rada), a unicameral parliament. Its 150 MPs are elected for 4 years according to the system of personalized proportional representation. Citizens have active voting rights from the age of 18 and passive voting rights from 21 years of age. A five percent threshold clause applies to entry into parliament.

Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the Prime Minister, and Igor Matovič (* 1973) has been with the OĽaNO since March 2020. The National Council can express its distrust of both the entire cabinet and individual members. The constitutional court established in 1993, whose 13 judges are elected by the National Council for 12 years, is responsible for the control of norms. In 2001, the office of an ombudsman elected by Parliament for the protection of fundamental rights was created.

The murder of the investigative journalist Jan Kuciak in 2018 triggered a government and, successively, a political systemic crisis, the roots of which were corruption, especially in connection with EU funds and the interdependence of government and police with questionable business people. Right-wing extremist parties are gaining popularity, as are conservative-nationalist ones. The anti-corruption movement and protest party OĽaNO has been ruling under the conservative Prime Minister Igor Matovič since March 2020in a coalition with three other parties and formulated the highest government goals to combat mismanagement and corruption, non-transparent financial interests and the influence of oligarchs. Health and economic crisis management have priority during the corona pandemic.

Parties

Slovak parties and movements (listed according to the year of their founding) include: the conservative “Christian Democratic Movement” (KDH; founded in 1990), the nationalist “Slovak National Party” (SNS; founded in 1990), the “Party of the Hungarian Coalition «(MKP; emerged from various forerunner parties in 1998 to represent the Hungarian minority), the social democratic» Smer – Social Democracy «(Smer – SD; founded in 1999, until 2005 under the name» Smer – tretia cesta «, German» Direction – third way «), The conservative» Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party «(SDKÚ-DS; founded in 2000 as SDKÚ, 2006 merger with the» Democratic Party «; DS, founded in 1944), the liberal-conservative party» Brücke «(MH; founded in 2009, party of the Hungarian minority),the EU-critical party »Freedom and Solidarity« (SaS; founded in 2009), the right-wing extremist »People’s Party Our Slovakia« (L’SNS; founded 2010, since 2019 called »Kotlebians – People’s Party Our Slovakia« after the name of the chairman M. Kotleba), the conservative group “Simple People and Independent Personalities” (OL’aNO; founded 2011), the right-wing populist group “SME – RODINA” (SR; founded 2011, with this name since 2015, German: “We are a family”) , the economically liberal »Slovak Conservative Party« (SKS; founded in 2014, until 2018 »# Sieť«, German: »#Netzwerk«), the left-liberal party »Progressive Slovakia« (PS; founded in 2017) and the centrist party »For the people « (ZL; founded in 2019).

The conservative-populist »People’s Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia« (LS-HZDS), founded in 1991, disbanded in 2014.

Unions

Around 17% of employees are unionized. The umbrella organization of the branch unions is the Confederation of Trade Union Associations of the Slovak Republic (KOZ SR). Visit themakeupexplorer for Trade Unions in Eastern Europe.

Military

The armed forces of the Slovak Republic consist of ground forces, air forces and special forces for special tasks. In 2019 they had almost 12,000 soldiers and around 4,000 civilian employees. In 2006 compulsory military service was abolished, and since then the armed forces have consisted of professional soldiers and volunteers (aged 18–30 years).

Slovak armed forces were involved in operations by SFOR (from 1998), KFOR (from 1999) and ISAF (from 2001). The country has been a member of NATO since 2004.

Administration

Since the administrative and local government reform of 1990, state administration and local self-government have been clearly separated from each other. Administrative units are district (kraj) and district (okres). Since the administration was reorganized in 1996, there have been 8 districts and 79 districts. State administrative authorities are the District Office (krajský úrad), which is subordinate to the Minister of the Interior, and the Area Office (obvodný úrad; since 2004). The latter are used for the joint administration of several districts. The head (prednosta) of these offices is appointed by the government.

The (2020) 2,933 municipalities are responsible for local self-government. Each municipality (obec) has a municipal council as its decision-making body, which is elected by the population for four years according to the majority voting system and can appoint a municipal council from among its members. The chairman of both committees and the executive body of the municipality is the starosta (mayor), in all cities it is the primátor, who is also directly elected for four years (comparable to the mayor or lord mayor in Germany).

Administrative division of the Slovak Republic

Administrative division (2014)
District (Kraj)	Area (in km 2)	Population (in 1,000)	Residents(per km 2)	capital city
Banskobystrický	9 455	655	69	Banská Bystrica
Bratislavský	2,053	625	304	Bratislava
Košický	6 753	796	118	Košice
Nitranský	6 343	685	108	Nitra
Prešovský	8 993	820	91	Prešov
Trenčianský	4 501	591	131	Trenčín
Trnavský	4 148	559	135	Trnava
Žilinský	6 788	690	102	Žilina