Slovakia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in the parliament, the National Council of the Slovak Republic, which consists of 150 MPs, who are assigned seats on the basis of proportional representation. Executive power is exercised by the coalition of parties which form the government headed by the Prime Minister. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and consists of a republic-level Supreme Court as the highest court of appeal; 8 regional courts seated in regional capitals; and 55 local courts seated in some district capitals. The official head of the state is the President, elected directly for a five year term.
Overview of the Slovak political structure:
Head of state
President of the republic, elected directly; Ivan Gasparovic was elected on April 17th 2004
Electoral system
Universal direct suffrage for party lists; proportional representation, subject to 5% threshold
National elections
April 17th 2004 (presidential); June 17th 2006 (legislative); next presidential election due in 2009; next legislative election due in 2010
National government
Coalition government headed by Robert Fico was sworn in on July 4th 2006
Main political parties
Ruling parties: Direction-Social Democracy (Smer-SD); Slovak National Party (SNS); People's Party-Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (LS-HZDS).
Opposition parties: Slovak Democratic and Christian Union-Democratic Party (SDKU-DS); Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK); Christian Democratic Movement (KDH)
Leading members of the government
Prime minister: Robert Fico (Smer-SD)
Deputy prime ministers: Dusan Caplovic (Smer-SD); Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD); Stefan Harabin (LS-HZDS)
Slovak Ministers (22.07.2008):
Agriculture: Zdenka Kramplova (LS-HZDS)
Construction & regional development: Marian Janusek (SNS)
Culture: Marek Madaric
Defence: Jaroslav Baska (Smer-SD)
Economy: Lubomir Jahnatek (Smer-SD)
Education: Jan Mikolaj (SNS)
Environment: Jaroslav Izak (SNS)
Finance: Jan Pociatek (Smer-SD)
Foreign affairs: Jan Kubis (Smer-SD)
Health: Richard Rasi (Smer-SD)
Interior: Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD)
Justice: Stefan Harabin (LS-HZDS)
Labour, social affairs & the family: Viera Tomanova (Smer-SD)
Transport, post & telecommunications: Lubomir Vazny (Smer-SD)
