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SLOVAK REPUBLIC
Official name: Slovenska Republika (Slovak Republic)
Location: Central Europe
International organisations: The Council of Europe, The European Union, The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, The United Nations, The Western
European Union, The World Trade Organisation
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Borders: Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine
Coastline: None
Land area: 48,845 Km2
Population: 5,400,000
Ethnicity: Slovak 85.7%, Hungarian 10.6%, Roma 5 to 10%. There are small minorities of Czechs, Ukrainians, Germans and Poles.
Languages: Slovak is the official language and is spoken by 90% of the population. Hungarian is spoken in districts along the Hungarian border.
Religion: About 60% are nominally Catholic Christians and there are small Protestant and Orthodox Christian minorities.
Form of government: Parliamentary democratic republic. Slovakia is divided into eight regions.
Capital: Bratislava
Constitution: The Constitution of the Slovak Republic came into effect on 1 September 1992.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term. The President's
functions are largely ceremonial. President Ivan Gašparovic has held office since June 15 2004.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is accountable to it.
Legislature: Slovakia has a unicameral legislature. The National Council of
the Slovak Republic (Narodna Rada Slovenskej Republiky) has 150 members, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation.
Electoral authority: The Slovak Interior Ministry administers national elections. See also the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic elections section.
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 2
Political history
The Slovak-speaking lands were part of the mediaeval Kingdom of Hungary, but following the fall of Hungary to the Ottomans, they were brought under Habsburg rule in 1526. Bratislava was for a time the capital of Hapsburg Hungary. In 1867, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was created, Slovakia came under direct Hungarian rule. Slovak nationalism emerged in the late 19th century, and the Slovaks formed an alliance with the Czechs to agitate for the creation of a Slav state.
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When the Hapsburg Empire collapsed in 1918, a Czech and Slovak state was formed. Although Czechoslovakia was a democracy, the Slovaks, largely a conservative and rural people, soon grew discontented with being ruled by the Czechs. When Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the Nazis in 1939, Slovakia became nominally independent under a pro-German regime. This was overthrown in 1944 and Czechoslovakia was reconstituted.
In 1948 the Communists seized power and Slovakia was subjected to Communist rule for 40 years. When the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, a federal system was set up, but Slovak discontent at Czech dominance re-emerged. The Slovak leader, Vladimir Meciar, threatened to secede if the Czechs did not make further concessions, and the Czechs called his bluff. Slovakia became independent on 1 January 1993.
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