Slovakia's liberal president Zuzana Caputova warned that changes in the criminal legislation put forward by the populist leftist cabinet of Robert Fico are not compatible with the constitution, during an address to the Slovak National Council (parliament) on January 18. 

The sweeping legislative changes, which the government is trying to push through in an express procedure, would dismantle the Special Prosecution Office, which oversees serious crimes,  weaken penalties for corruption, and weaken protection for whistleblowers. The European Parliament passed a resolution earlier this week condemning the changes.

“Incorrect or thoroughly unprepared setting [of the legislation] could cause unforeseeable damages across society and irreversible intrusions into the rights of persons affected by criminal activity” Caputova stated in her address.

She criticised Fico’s cabinet, saying, “No one sensible in this room can doubt” your mandate. “However, to win elections does not mean you can do anything”. Caputova added that “to win elections means to take the greatest share of responsibility”.

Fico’s cabinet, comprised of his Smer party, centre-left Hlas and far-right SNS, holds a narrow majority of 79 in the parliament of 150.

“History, which is being written in these days, shall remember this”, Caputova concluded her address, which was praised by the opposition and slammed by Fico and other cabinet representatives.

Slovakia’s capital saw the largest demonstration so far later that day, with 26,000 people rallying against Fico’s cabinet in Bratislava alone, while another 23 cities and towns also held rallies.

Many of the chants and banners were directed at SNS leader Andrej Danko, who was involved in a late-night car crash last week.

Danko damaged a traffic light and left the crash site without informing the police, and this week, it transpired that his claims of having been tested on alcohol referred to a test that he underwent 15 hours after the accident when any alcohol in his blood at the time would not be traceable.    Danko was only investigated by the police as his number plate fell off at the crash site.

“Not even a traffic light stopped them, and so we came”, one of the banners at the rally read, while another protester held a sign “, We won’t move; we are not a traffic light”.

Despite the backlash, Danko confirmed he will run in the upcoming presidential campaign, with the first-round voting scheduled for March 23.

The latest poll, compiled by AKO for commercial TV JOJ shows that in the first round of the election, Parliamentary Speaker Peter Pellegrini, who is also a leader of Hlas, leads with 40.6% ahead of pro-Western diplomat Ivan Korcok with 37.7%.

Ultranationalist Stefan Harabin is third with 8%, while none of the other candidates registered more than 3.5%.