Political outline

Executive Power

The President is the head of state and is elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term. Following the parliamentary elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed Prime Minister by the President for a four-year term. The Prime Minister is the head of the government and enjoys the executive powers which include implementation of the law in the country and running the day-to-day affairs. The cabinet is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

Legislative Power

The legislature is unicameral in Slovakia. The parliament, called National Council, consists of 150 seats; its members are elected on the basis of proportional representation to serve four-year terms. The executive branch of government is directly or indirectly dependent on the support of the National Council, often expressed through a vote of confidence. Legislative power is vested in the National Council. The Prime Minister cannot dissolve the parliament, but the President can do so if circumstances require this. The people of Slovakia enjoy considerable political rights.

Main political parties

Slovakia has a multi-party system, with numerous parties in which no one party normally has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties need to work with each other to form coalition governments. The major political parties in the country are:

SNS (Slovak National Party), – a centre-right party based on principles of Christianity, Nationalism and Socialism;
KDH (Christian Democratic Movement), – Christian democrats;
Smer-SD (Direction - Social Democracy), – generally considered to be a left-of-centre political party;
SMK (Hungarian Coalition Party) , – a party of the ethnic Hungarian minority;
LS-HZDS (People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia), – a social democratic party;
SDKU-DS (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union - Democratic Party), – a Christian democratic party.

Current political leaders

President: Ivan GASPAROVIC (since June 2004) – non-partisan, but nominated by political parties
Prime Minister: Robert FICO (since 4 April 2012) - SMER - sociálna demokracia

Next election dates

Presidential:July 2014
National Council: In 2014