Since the last presidential election, President Ivan Gašparovič has vetoed less frequently than previously. This is unsurprising. Although he is nominally independent, President Gašparovič won re-election in 2009 with the support of PM Fico’s Smer party. Given Smer won a majority in the March 2012 parliamentary election, we would expect President Gašparovič to be less active.

So, for example, according to the president’s website in the 2011 calendar year he returned 19 bills to parliament. This was when he was faced with a government of which he disapproved. By contrast, in just over a year from April 2012 to now he has returned only five bills to parliament.

Interestingly, though, he returned three bills in March 2013 and another in May. So, perhaps for whatever reason he is becoming a little more active as his term in office comes to an end.