A referendum on abolishing Prime Minister Ficoʼs lifetime pension failed in Slovakia

On July 4, Slovakia held a referendum on abolishing the lifetime pension for Prime Minister Robert Fico, as well as on reviving the Special Prosecutorʼs Office and the National Criminal Investigation Agency. It was declared invalid due to low turnout.

This is reported by the local media SME.

Only 16.13% of eligible voters, or 705,227 Slovak citizens, took part in the vote. For it to be valid, more than half of Slovakiaʼs 4.3 million voters had to participate.

93.43% of those who came voted to abolish Ficoʼs lifetime allowance. Previously, lifetime allowances in Slovakia only applied to the countryʼs president. However, after Robert Fico returned to the prime ministerʼs chair in May 2024, the ruling coalition adopted a law on allowances for prime ministers and the speaker of parliament.

At the same time, the law stipulated that in order to receive the allowance, an official must have been in office for at least 10 years. Currently, only one person in Slovakia fits this definition — Robert Fico, who has headed the Slovak government for a total of more than 12 years.

The Special Prosecutorʼs Office and the National Criminal Investigation Agency used to investigate the most serious crimes, including corruption and organized crime. Shortly after returning to power, Fico and the ruling coalition abolished the agencies.

This is the tenth referendum since the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1993. Of these, only the referendum on the countryʼs accession to the European Union in 2004 was successful.

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