Slovak Nationalist Party Fails to Extend Parliamentary and Local Government Terms

A constitutional amendment proposed by the Slovak National Party (SNS) to extend the term lengths of both parliament and local governments was rejected in the National Council, Slovakia's unicameral parliament. The measure received only 77 votes in favor, falling short of the 90-vote supermajority required to amend the constitution. SNS is a nationalist party and junior partner in Slovakia's ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer-SD party. Constitutional changes in Slovakia require support from at least three-fifths of all 150 members of parliament, meaning such proposals need a broad cross-party consensus to pass. The failure of the vote indicates the proposal lacked sufficient backing even within the coalition's broader parliamentary bloc, leaving current electoral term limits unchanged for both national and local levels of government.