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Slovak Opposition Party Says It Meets Threshold for Vote to Oust Government

(Bloomberg) -- The Slovak opposition Smer party has collected 350,000 signatures in a petition to call a referendum aimed at ousting the government, party leader Robert Fico said Monday.

President Zuzana Caputova must now decide whether the referendum will take place and may submit the proposal to the Constitutional Court for review of its legality. The court previously ruled that a similar opposition proposal to call a referendum in 2021 was unconstitutional.

If the referendum does take place, people will vote on two questions – if the current government of Prime Minister Eduard Heger should resign, and if the parliament should approve an amendment to the constitution allowing the shortening of the cabinet’s tenure.

Fico’s party says it has launched the referendum proposal to end political uncertainty as the ruling coalition suffers from internal squabbling over issues ranging from personal differences to tax and spending policies. One of the four member parties threatened to quit the government in September if its demands aren’t met.

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