Published On 4/7/2026
Slovaks will vote today, Saturday, in a referendum to determine whether to abolish the payment of lifetime salaries to populist Prime Minister Robert Fico and other leaders after their term ends.
They will also vote on reopening the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the National Crime Agency, which used to handle major crime and corruption cases.
This referendum follows a petition organized by the Democratic Party, a pro-Western opposition party not represented in Parliament, and signed by more than 350,000 citizens in the country with a population of 5.4 million, which is the minimum legally required.
Slovak Prime Ministers and Speakers of Parliament who have held office for at least two terms are entitled to receive a lifetime bonus – a monthly sum equivalent to the salaries of members of Parliament – as part of measures to enhance the security of senior politicians.
This reward was approved following the assassination attempt on Fico in 2024, when he was shot and seriously injured after a government meeting, which shook the country, and its repercussions extended throughout Europe. This reward was only given to former presidents before 2024.
In early 2024, Slovak lawmakers approved Fico’s coalition government’s plan to abolish the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, which handles cases of serious crimes such as corruption, organized crime, and extremism, and the government also dissolved the police unit specialized in these crimes.
This legislation faced sharp criticism locally and internationally, and thousands of Slovaks repeatedly took to the streets to protest it, and a number of people associated with Fico’s party faced prosecution in corruption scandals.
Fico has been a controversial figure since his return to power in 2023, and his pro-Russian and other policies have sparked numerous protests.
While Fico announced that he will not vote in this referendum, opinion polls indicate that the participation rate in today’s referendum will not reach the 50% required to pass its results.
It is noteworthy that only one referendum in the history of Slovakia has been successful, which was the 2003 referendum on the country’s membership in the European Union. As for other referendums, they always failed due to low turnout.
