-
09 March 2023 | Country Update
Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia and a newly launched prosecution -
04 June 2018 | Country Update
Early- 2018 government crisis and new minister of health
1.3. Political context
Slovakia is a parliamentary democracy divided into three administrative levels: the state, the SGRs and the municipalities. The President is the highest formal authority by constitution, although in practice he has limited legislative powers and a more representative role. The cabinet and the prime minister hold the main executive powers in Slovakia, while legislative power rests with the unicameral parliament (or National Council, in Slovak: Národná rada) consisting of 150 members who are elected by proportional representation for a four-year period. A party, or a collation of parties, can create a government if they receive the majority of 76 or more seats in the Parliament.
The current ruling coalition was formed after the elections in March 2016 and comprises four parties: the social democrats of SMER (holding the single party majority during the administration from 2012 to 2016), the social national democrats of the Slovak national party (SNS) and the centre right parties Most-híd and Sieť. SMER has 49 (83 seats from 2012 to 2014), SNS 15, Most-Híd 11 and Sieť 10 seats in the parliament. The remaining seats were allocated among the established liberal parties of Sloboda a Solidarita (21), a centre-right party Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti (19) and a newly elected party Sme Rodina (11) and a national party ĽS Naše Slovensko.
Compared to the previous election in 2012, SMER lost 34 seats in the parliament, despite its previously stable share of 34–38% in polls since 2006. A variety of corruption allegations and the rise of anti-migrant national parties are deemed to have contributed to the decline in SMER’s election results.
During the reform period of 2002–2006 some competences of the central government were shifted to regional and local government level. The eight SGRs enjoy a high degree of autonomy and are responsible for regional social, economic and cultural development, although competences in legislation and taxes remain more or less centralized. Each region has its own administrative organs and functions, and its representatives are elected in separate elections. The elections took place in 2013 and to a large extent the results mimicked national level preferences for individual parties. The regions are also entrusted by the constitution with organizing and financing social care services, regulating certain aspects of providing care (such as the establishment of ethics health care committees, issuing authorizations for the establishment of practices, etc.) and providing care in delimitated polyclinics and hospitals.
Furthermore, SGRs can delegate competences to the 2933 municipalities, such as surveillance of local road networks, environmental issues, water management, landscape planning, local development, housing, schools, social institutions, emergency rooms, some hospitals and local taxes. Local government elections took place in November 2014 and surprisingly SMER nominees ended up as the second largest elected group, after independent candidates.
The state is officially represented by the president, who has restricted legislative power. A president is elected in direct two-round elections by the people. Presidential elections took place in 2014, and were won by the independent candidate Andrej Kiska. The next regular elections are scheduled in 2018.
Important interest groups in Slovakia include the Federation of Employers’ Associations of Slovakia, the National Union of Employers, the Association of Towns and Municipalities of Slovakia, and the Confederation of Trade Unions. Slovakia has been a member of the United Nations since 1993, a member of the OECD since 2000 and a member of NATO and the EU since 2004. Slovakia became part of the Schengen Area on 21 December 2007. Furthermore, on 1 January 2009 Slovakia joined the euro. In addition, Slovakia is a member of various other global and regional organizations (including WTO, WHO, IMF and the Council of Europe).
According to the 2015 Freedom House report, Slovakia is a free country (listed in the “free” category) (Freedom House, 2015). Corruption has been a long-term problem in Slovakia. According to Transparency International, Slovakia ranked 54th among 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), with a CPI of 54 (where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 very clean). However, this figure had improved from 46 in 2012 (Transparency International, 2015).
When looking at the development of excess mortality in the Slovak Republic (third-highest in the EU27 over the analysed time period, see Table 1), the second (September 2020 to May 2021) and later also third waves (September 2021 to May 2022) saw Slovakia record a high number of infections and deaths. The exception was indeed the first wave of the pandemic (March to May 2020), during which the hard lockdown introduced very quickly brought the expected results and numbers remained low.
While the strong second wave was primarily the result of neglected preparation (planning, contact tracing, testing), chaotic political decisions often without a scientific basis (population-wide rapid antigen testing), inappropriate communication to the public and the late introduction of a hard lockdown, the main problem in the third wave was the politicization of COVID-19 vaccinations (inconsistent support across the political spectrum, scandal with the Sputnik V vaccine, and the unsuccessful vaccination lottery) leading to only 51% of the population being vaccinated and another late-introduced lockdown.
Although all EU countries recorded an increased excess mortality during the pandemic, a more detailed comparison shows that the situation in Slovakia was particularly unfavourable (reaching 70% at the peak of the wave, a total of 26,786 excess deaths were recorded). Hypothetically, it is even possible to quantify the number of lives that could potentially be saved if the same anti-pandemic measures as in selected EU countries had been introduced in Slovakia. Based on country benchmarking for instance, if Slovakia had followed the same pandemic measures as Estonia or Denmark, up to 12,391 or 21,308 fewer deaths, respectively, could have occurred. This could have also been the case with higher vaccination rates, that is, Slovakia would have recorded 14,483 fewer deaths with the same vaccination rates as Portugal.
As a result of this, then Minister of Health Krajčí resigned on 11 March 2021, followed by then Prime Minister Matovič on 30 March 2021. One reason specifically given from the official government website for the coalition’s collapse was the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine. Nearly two years later, on 6 March 2023, Slovakia’s Attorney General confirmed the launch of a criminal prosecution (begun in January 2023) for (mis)management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
