Slovakia

The 150 members of the unicameral Slovak Parliament are directly elected for 4-year terms in an open-list proportional representation system. The allocation of seats between parties is done using the Droop (Hagenbach-Bischoff) quota and the largest remainder method, thus slightly biasing the system towards larger parties. The legal electoral threshold is 5% for a single-party list, 7% for a joint list of two or three parties, and 10% for a joint list of several parties. Under the open-list system, voters can vote for up to 4 candidates (also called preferential votes). The latter is very similar to the Czech system, but one difference is that a candidate only needs to obtain 3% of the votes to "jump" up the party list.

The minimum age for active suffrage (the right to vote) is 18 years, and for passive suffrage (standing for election) is 21 years. Voting is not compulsory; postal voting is possible for voters abroad, but neither in-person voting abroad, nor online voting or proxy voting is possible.

The president (head of state) is directly elected for a 5-year term in a two-round system and may be re-elected once, so the same person can be president for a maximum of 2 terms in total, i.e. 10 years (the two terms do not have to be consecutive). The first round is held via a single-choice vote and the two candidates with the most votes advance to the second round if no one receives a majority (more than half of the valid votes, 50%+) in the first round.

MEPs from Slovakia are elected every 5 years (at the same time as in the other EU member states). The entire country forms one constituency, in which 15 MEPs were elected in 2024. Due to "degressive proportionality", Slovakian voters have more representatives per capita than the EU average.

The main principle in the election of the Parliament (within the countries) is proportionality: by default, only a proportional system can be used, but beyond this, the member states decide for themselves what type. Slovakia, like most member states, uses an open-list proportional system. This means that voters can vote not only for a party list, but also for a candidate on the list, thus allowing them the chance to collectively change the predetermined order of the candidates. The allocation of seats between parties is done using the Droop quota and the largest remainder method. The legal electoral threshold is 5%, but in practice (due to the 15 seats) this is not necessarily enough to obtain a seat.

The minimum age for active suffrage (the right to vote) is 18 years, and for passive suffrage (standing for election) is 21 years. Voting is not compulsory; neither in-person voting abroad, nor postal voting, online voting or proxy voting is possible.

This is the description of the electoral system of Slovakia as of 30.07.2026 on Electoral Knowledgebase. Sources and further information on this topic:

• 2024 European Parliament elections: National rules (Európai Parlament)

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