Coalition Parties Fail to Advance Early Election Proposal, Informant Law Moves Forward

Two parties in Slovakia's ruling coalition have failed in their attempt to shorten the current parliamentary term, while a controversial amendment to laws governing cooperating witnesses — commonly known as the 'informant law' — advanced to a second reading in parliament. Hlas-SD and the Slovak National Party (SNS), both junior partners in the coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer-SD, pushed for a constitutional amendment that would have cut short the current electoral term. The proposal did not gain sufficient support to proceed. Meanwhile, a separate legislative measure amending rules around so-called 'kajúcnici' — defendants who cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for reduced sentences, a mechanism widely used in major corruption cases in Slovakia — passed its first reading and moved to the next stage of the legislative process. The debate over cooperating witnesses has been politically charged in Slovakia. Critics of the current rules, including members of the ruling coalition, have argued that the system has been abused, particularly in high-profile prosecutions of politicians and businesspeople linked to the Fico-era governments. Supporters of the existing framework, largely in the opposition, contend that weakening protections for cooperating witnesses would undermine the country's ability to prosecute organized crime and corruption. The amendment's advancement signals that the coalition retains enough votes to push the measure through parliament despite opposition resistance.