allow direct election of the president; amended
February 2001 to allow Slovakia to apply for NATO and EU membership

Legal system:

civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; accepts compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; legal code modified to comply
with the obligations of Organization on Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory

Suffrage:

18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:

chief of state: President Ivan GASPAROVIC (since 15 June 2004)
head of government: Prime Minister Robert FICO (since 4 July 2006);
Deputy Prime Ministers Dusan CAPLOVIC, Robert KALINAK, Stefan
HARABIN, Jan MIKOLAJ (since 4 July 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of
the prime minister
elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term
(eligible for a second term); election last held 3 April and 17
April 2004 (next to be held in April 2009); following National
Council elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of
a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the
president
election results: Ivan GASPAROVIC elected president in runoff;
percent of vote - Ivan GASPAROVIC 59.9%, Vladimir MECIAR 40.1%

Legislative branch:

unicameral National Council of the Slovak Republic or Narodna Rada
Slovenskej Republiky (150 seats; members are elected on the basis of
proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 17 June 2006 (next to be held in 2010)
election results: percent of vote by party - Smer 29.1%, SDKU 18.4%,
SMK 11.7%, SNS 11.7%, LS-HZDS 8.8%, KDH 8.3%, other 12%; seats by
party - Smer 50, SDKU 31, SMK 20, SNS 19, LS-HZDS 16, KDH 14

Judicial branch:

Supreme Court (judges are elected by the National Council);
Constitutional Court (judges appointed by president from group of
nominees approved by the National Council); Special Court (judges
elected by a council of judges and appointed by president)

Political parties and leaders:

Parties in the Parliament: Christian Democratic Movement or KDH
[Pavol HRUSOVSKY]; Direction-Social Democracy or Smer-SD [Robert
FICO]; Party of the Hungarian Coalition or SMK [Pal CSAKY]; People's
Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia or LS-HZDS [Vladimir
MECIAR]; Slovak Democratic and Christian Union or SDKU-DS [Mikulas
DZURINDA]; Slovak National Party or SNS [Jan SLOTA]; Parties outside
the Parliament: Agrarian