Opposition's Labour's Lost? Minority Rights in Slovakia, 1994-2012

Abstract

The paper analyses rights of parliamentary opposition in Slovakia in 1994-2012. It is structured as follows. The introduction provides the empirical account of Slovak political system with a specific focus paid to the composition of the parliament and to the unity of parliamentary party groups (PPGs), measured by defection rate of their membership and roll-call voting analysis. The second part describes procedural rules that govern the role of opposition political parties in the political system. The attention is paid to the formal rights of PPG’s and individual MPs in 1994-2012, as established by the 1996 Standing Order of the Parliament and its subsequent amendments. The real-time use of these rights is presented on data in the third part, including legislative initiative, roll-call vote analysis and rights connected to the control of the government. The fourth part examines opportunities provided for the opposition outside the parliament in a form of referendum and constitutional review. The final part summarizes main findings and discusses possibilities for further research.