Slovakia Heart of Europe

The Slovak Referendum on the European Union

The European Union Referendum in Slovakia - An emphatic
victory for Slovakia, but only just!

On Saturday 17th May, an incredible 92.4% of Slovak voters said an emphatic YES to the question of whether or not Slovakia should join the European Union. The referendum had been a success, well yes, but only just.

Before last weekend, all previous attempts to hold a referendum in Slovakia had failed. Never before had the required 50% of voters plus one vote, been achieved - the minimum number of votes necessary for a referendum to be valid.

Despite this poor record, Premier Mikulas Dzurinda and his coalition government were extremely confident of a YES vote in the referendum on whether or not Slovakia should join the European Union. In fact they were so confident that they decided a publicity campaign to get voters out of the house and to the ballot boxes was not at all necessary. A big mistake.

On Saturday morning, only hours before the ballot boxes closed, there was a televised address by the Slovak President, Rudolf Schuster, urging the Slovak people to go and cast their vote. Perhaps this last minute appeal by the President made all the difference, because up to that point the percentage of votes cast was stuck at a worrying 48.40% mark.

The voting finished at 2pm Saturday afternoon, and once the votes had been counted, it became apparent that the referendum had in fact been a success after all. In Komarno, a town in southern Slovakia on the border with Hungary, 99.5 percent of the voters said YES. And all across Slovakia the message from voters was that they wanted to be part of the European Union.

However, at the end of the day only 52 percent of Slovakia's 4.2 million registered voters took part in the referendum. Questions need to be asked why the government didn't spend money on a publicity campaign to get over to the people of Slovakia just how important this referendum was.

Having to suffer the myriad of billboards and posters of politicians from each of the parties campaigning for the General Election, in September of last year, I expected that there would be at least a few posters informing the public about the referendum. If there were any posters promoting the referendum, then I didn't see them. However, I still see the fading faces of many different politicians, on every street corner in my wife's hometown, an incredible 9 months after the September 2002 General Elections. I wonder if they'll still be there in four years time when the next round of campaigning begins.