Constitution:
ratified 1 September 1992, effective 1 January 1993; changed in
September 1998 to allow direct election of the president; amended
February 2001 to allow Slovakia to apply for NATO and EU membership
Legal system:
civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; legal code modified
to comply with the obligations of Organization on Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal
theory
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Ivan GASPAROVIC (since 15 June 2004)
head of government: Prime Minister Robert FICO (since 4 July 2006);
Deputy Prime Ministers Dusan CAPLOVIC, Robert KALINAK, Stefan
HARABIN, Jan MIKOLAJ (since 4 July 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of
the prime minister
elections: president elected by direct, popular vote for a five-year
term (eligible for a second term); election last held 3 April and 17
April 2004 (next to be held April 2009); following National Council
elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of a
majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the
president
election results: Ivan GASPAROVIC elected president in runoff;
percent of vote - Ivan GASPAROVIC 59.9%, Vladimir MECIAR 40.1%
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic or Narodna Rada
Slovenskej Republiky (150 seats; members are elected on the basis of
proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 17 June 2006 (next to be held 2010)
election results: percent of vote by party - Smer 29.1%, SDKU 18.4%,
SNS 11.7%, SMK 11.7%, LS-HZDS 8.8%, KDH 8.3%; seats by party - Smer
50, SDKU 31, SNS 20, SMK 20, LS-HZDS 15, KDH 14
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court (judges are elected by the National Council);
Constitutional Court (judges appointed by president from group of
nominees approved by the National Council); Special Court (judges
elected by a council of judges and appointed by president)
Political parties and leaders:
Christian Democratic Movement or KDH [Pavol HRUSOVSKY];
Direction-Social Democracy or Smer-SD [Robert FICO]; Free Forum
[Zuzana MARTINAKOVA]; Movement for Democracy or HZD [Jozef GRAPA];
People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia or LS-HZDS
[Vladimir MECIAR]; New Citizens Alliance or ANO [Pavol RUSKO]; Party
of the Hungarian Coalition or SMK [Bela BUGAR]; People's Union or LU
[Gustav KRAJCI]; Slovak Communist Party or KSS [Vladimir DADO];
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union or SDKU [Mikulas DZURINDA];
Slovak National Party or SNS [Jan SLOTA]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Federation of Employers' Associations of the Slovak Republic;
Association of Towns and Villages or ZMOS; Confederation of Trade
Unions or KOZ
International organization participation:
ACCT (observer), Australia Group, BIS, BSEC (observer), CE, CEI,
CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EU (new member), FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol,
IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITU, MIGA, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS
(observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UN Security
Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, UNTSO,
UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO,
WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Rastislav KACER
chancery: 3523 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 237-1054
FAX: [1] (202) 237-6438
consulate(s) general: Los Angeles, New York