The Slovak Republic was established on January 1, 1993 as one of the successors to the Czech and Slovak Federal (Federative) Republic. It is a Parliamentary Democracy, and its Constitution guarantees equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, religion, race, national origin, social status or political conviction.

 

Public administration is organised on three levels: state – region - municipality

 

State bodies

 

The National Council of the Slovak Republic is a unicameral parliament and the country’s main legislative body. The National Council has 150 members elected for 4-year terms in direct elections. The electoral system is Proportional Representation. Parties are allocated seats in the Parliament according to the percentage share of the votes they get in parliamentary elections.

 

The President is the Head of State elected for a five-year term in a direct two-round election. The same person can be elected President for a maximum of two consecutive 5-year terms. The current Slovak president is Ivan Gašparovič (2004-2009).

 

The Government is the highest tier of executive power and consists of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers. The Government is formed on the basis of parliamentary elections (Last one held in June 2006). The Prime Minister is appointed and can be dismissed by the President. Upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the President appoints and dismisses other members of the Government. The Government is collectively responsible for the exercise of governmental powers to the Parliament, which may hold a vote of no confidence at any time. The current Prime Minister is Róbert Fico (since 2006).

 

The state administration power is mostly executed on central level. The central bodies have lower – regional levels. If needed, local state administration authorities establish other authorities and offices in regions.

 

Within the launch of decentralisation as of January 1, 2002 a regional  level of self-administration was established. This is divided into 8 superior territorial units/self-governing regions, and into  municipalities (2,891 as of Dec. 31, 2004).

Between both levels of local self-administration (self-governing regions and municipalities) there is no relation of superiority or subordination.

 

Both levels have their own elected officials, distributed duties and liabilities. Some duties are divided between the state  and self-administration.

 

A list of self-governing regions

Banská Bystrica      

Bratislava             

Košice  

Nitra                         

Prešov                    

Trenčín

Trnava

Žilina