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Slovakia’s 2023 early parliamentary elections: ODIHR election assessment mission final report

1 March 2024
(OSCE)

Slovakia’s 2023 early parliamentary elections were competitive and pluralistic, with fundamental rights and freedoms respected, but while the contestants enjoyed equitable campaign conditions, they competed in an environment characterized by high polarization. The elections were managed efficiently, but the campaign finance oversight and election dispute resolution mechanisms could benefit from further improvements to improve accountability.

These are some of the main conclusions from the final report on the 30 September elections published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The report offers 24 recommendations to support efforts to bring elections further in line with OSCE commitments, as well as other international obligations and standards for democratic elections.

Key recommendations include:

  • Clearly defining and delineating competencies and activities of the Ministry of Interior and the State Election Commission to ensure institutional and functional independence;
  • Removing restrictions on candidacy based on residency, criminal conviction and intellectual or psychosocial disabilities;
  • Giving responsibility for campaign finance oversight to an independent body with a strong mandate and capacity;
  • Decriminalizing defamation in favour of civil remedies;
  • Providing adequate deadlines for election disputes and clear guidelines for handling complaints;
  • Increasing efforts to allocate adequate premises for polling stations that allow independent access for voters with physical disabilities, providing election documents in accessible formats and using assistive tools to allow voters with disabilities to vote independently.

ODIHR deployed an Election Assessment Mission on 16 September 2023 to observe the early parliamentary elections. All 57 participating States across the OSCE region have formally committed to following up promptly on ODIHR’s election assessments and recommendations.