Information on the Law on Election to the National Council of the

							                                                                2nd Vienna Election Seminar
                                                                    (6 and 7 December 2004)

                                                               agenda point 2 / EP elections

                                                           Peter DRABEK / Slovak Republic



II Experiences with and Lessons Learnt from the European Parliament Elections 2004


       European Parliament elections on the territory of the Slovak Republic are regulated
by Act No. 331/2003 Col., which was adopted by Parliament – the National Council of the
Slovak Republic – on 10th July 2003.


       According to the valid legal regulation the right to vote and the right to be elected to
the European Parliament on the territory of the Slovak Republic shall be granted to citizens
of another Member States of the European Union who have permission to permanent
residence on the territory of the Slovak Republic. The length of the permanent residence is
not decisive.


       The Act enables elections to the European Parliament only on the territory of the
Slovak Republic by traditional way of voting in polling stations. Alternative methods of voting
such as postal voting, voting on embassies or consulates abroad or electronic voting are not
incorporated to the Act. More details on mentioned legal regulation have been presented by
representatives of the Slovak Republic on the First Vienna Election Seminar last year.


       European Parliament elections have been conducted on the territory of the Slovak
Republic according to the Article 9 of the Council Decision 76/787/ECCS/EEC/EUROATOM
on Sunday 13th June 2004. The Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic organised an
information meeting on preparation and conducting of elections to the European Parliament
for representatives of consulates and embassies of all Member States of the European Union
in sufficient advance before elections. The information meeting took place in April 2004 and
above mentioned representatives of Member States were informed with possibility and way
of execution of the right to vote and to be elected on the territory of the Slovak Republic as
well as with elections management. At the same time the information meeting enabled
mutual information exchange on election management in another Member States.


       Elections preparation and information campaign have been a subject of meetings and
mutual consultations with representatives of Office of European Parliament in Bratislava.
        Information exchange issues concerning elections law enforcement (Article 13 of the
Council Directive 93/109/ES) have been discussed with the Ministry of Foreign Affaires of the
Slovak Republic and rules on information exchange have been set mutually.


        The Ministry of the Interior issued special written instructions for municipalities on
tasks accomplishment concerning submitting applications for entering electoral rolls by
citizens of another Member States of the European Union.


        In reference to above mentioned and according to Article 12 of the Council Directive
93/109/ES detailed written information on election rights enforcement conditions has been
sent to citizens of another member States of the European Union in Slovak and English
languages. They have also been provided by application form on entering to electoral roll in
the place of their permanent residence. The documents have been sent to 6871 citizens with
permission to permanent residence on the territory of the Slovak Republic. Information on
election rights enforcement conditions has been also published on the Ministry of the Interior
web site in English and French languages.


        Regarding to sent applications 593 citizens of another Member States of the
European Union have been entered electoral rolls in the Slovak Republic. The highest
number of these citizens came from Poland – 206, Czech Republic – 164 and Hungary –
147. According to Article 13 of the Council Directive 93/109/ES information on entry these
citizens electoral rolls has been announced in advance before elections to Member States of
their origin.


        In another Member States 1288 citizens of the Slovak Republic entered electoral rolls
(Germany – 631, Hungary – 316, Italy – 162, The Netherlands – 73, United Kingdom – 35,
Czech Republic – 21, Denmark – 16, Belgium – 14, Spain – 6, Poland – 4, Sweden – 4,
Finland – 2, France – 1, Latvia – 1). The Ministry of the Interior sent information on entry
Slovak citizens electoral rolls in another Member States to respective municipalities, which
were obliged to exclude these citizens from their electoral rolls.


        These procedures of mutual information exchange between Slovak Republic and
another Member States enforced in practice Article 4 of the Council Directive 93/109/ES, by
which double voting was prevented.


        Regarding to information exchange some problems occurred concerning Slovak
citizens entry electoral rolls in another Member States. Some information notifications about


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Slovak citizens registered abroad did not contain data according to the Standard Form of the
European Commission to the Elections to the European Parliament in 2004, therefore they
could not be used properly.


       These incomplete information was mostly sent from the United Kingdom by e-mail.
They provided many times only surname and given names, but not maiden name, which was
not sufficient for exclusion from electoral roll, especially when woman got married abroad
and she was registered in electoral roll on the territory of the Slovak Republic by her maiden
name. The same problem occurred when sent information did not contain locality or
constituency in voter's home Member State on the electoral roll of which his/her name was
last entered (municipality, street name and number). In this case the voter could not be
excluded from electoral roll, because personal identification was impossible.


       In spite of urgent request to add all relevant data to sent information, success could
not be reached, because sender of information did not have data available.


       In the case, when Slovak authorities obtained information concerning citizens of
Slovenia or Czech Republic, it was immediately forwarded to respective Member States.


       Nevertheless, historically the first elections to the European Parliament on the
territory of the Slovak Republic were organisationally, materially and technically conducted
on desirable level which created conditions for their fluent and peaceful course. According to
Act on Elections to the European Parliament, 14 members of the European Parliament have
been elected.


       In conclusion we would like to mention, that any citizen of another Member States
with permanent residence on the territory of the Slovak Republic did not use the right to
stand as a candidate for the member of the European Parliament on the territory of the
Slovak Republic.


(P. Drabek, Ministry of the Interior)




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