Institute of presidency in the context of political transformations in the Slovak Republic ; ІНСТИТУТ ПРЕЗИДЕНТСТВА В КОНТЕКСТІ ПОЛІТИЧНИХ РАНСФОРМАЦІЙ У СЛОВАЦЬКІЙ РЕСПУБЛІЦІ

Abstract

The article deals with the development of the institute of presidency through the prism of state-power relations, the electoral process and political transformations in the Slovak Republic. Noted that the process of democratic transformations in the Slovak Republic is closely linked to the development of the institute of presidency, which occupies a special place in the system of power relations.President of Slovakia has weak constitutional competences and his role includes mainly formal and representative functions. But the president's power manifests itself in the political practice, which M. Kovac, R. Schuster, I. Gasparovich, A. Kiska repeatedly testified to their activities.It is concluded that in the constitution 1992 many provisions were formulated vaguely and provoked institutional conflicts. Constitutional amendments (1999, 2001) partly reinstated the institutional balance in the system of power relations. Slovakia is dynamically reacting to political crises and is looking for the possibility of constitutionally improving the institution of the presidency.Special attention is given to the position of the president vis-a-vis the prime minister and the cabinet. All directly elected presidents in Slovakia have had occasional political conflicts with the government. However, the two disputing sides never escalated their conflicts in the manner characteristic of the period from 1994– 1998. During the period of 1994–1998, the relations between government and the opposition have always been strained during the whole period in consequence of concentration of power by the ruling coalition at the head of Meciar, oppression and restriction of parliamental oppositional actions and the president of Slovakia.The author comes to the conclusion, that the institution of presidency played an important role in the democratic transformation, legitimation and institutional consolidation of the political system in the Slovak Republic. ; У статті проаналізовано розвиток інституту президента крізь призму динаміки державно-владних відносин, електорального процесу і політичних трансформацій в Словацькій Республіці. Зроблено висновок, що в Конституції 1992 р. містилось чимало нечітких положень, які спровокували інституційні конфлікти. Конституційні зміни у 1999, 2001 рр. частково відновили інституційну рівновагу в системі владних відносин. Особлива увага приділяється аналізу позиції президента щодо прем'єр мністра та уряду.