Slovak Republic 1992
Deadlock over proposed changes to the Czechoslovakian constitution, divergent economic platforms and a desire for greater ethnic autonomy led to the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, formerly known as Czechoslovakia, and prompted the Slovak National Council to adopt their own constitution in September 1992. The formal dismantlement of the Czechoslovak state soon followed in December 1992.
After the peaceful overthrow of the Communist regime in 1989, Czechoslovakia became the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (CSFR). The CSFR, operating under the 1968 Soviet style constitution, elected a proportionally-representative Federal Assembly along with Czech and Slovak National Councils. An explicit duty of the Federal Assembly was to create a new democratic constitution, but great debate between Slovak and Czech representatives over the restructuring of the constitutional system resulted in both sides agreeing to the break-up of the CSFR into two independent states. The push for independence by Slovak leadership, comprised at the time of largely nationalistic separatist members, reflected the public’s hesitation to embrace the neo-liberal reforms that the Czechs had endorsed as well as the swell in nationalism that accompanied the economically uncertain times. Despite this surge, polls show that a majority of the Slovak population opposed termination of the CSFR in favor of their own independent state.
In September 1990, the Slovak National Council appointed an expert group of 22 members led by two local law professors to prepare an initial draft of the Slovak constitution. The process accelerated after the drafting of the constitution became the main priority of the Movement for Democratic Slovakia (MDS) party, the dominant political party that emerged from the January 1992 elections. Upon completion of the draft, the drafting group submitted it for public discussion. According to one of the lead drafters, the committee received 2,630 communications representing expert and lay public opinion. Over the course of two years, the committee produced some eight drafts of the constitution. On September 1, 1992, the Slovak National Council considered the final draft, during which time more than 400 amendments to the draft were offered and of which 150 were accepted by the constitutional committee. That same day during the final vote, the Hungarian Christian Democrats and the Hungarian Coexistence coalition walked out due to the Council’s rejection of their proposals for broader minority rights. Approved by 114 deputies, with 16 Christian Democratic Movement deputies voting against, four Hungarian members of the Party of the Democratic Left abstaining and sixteen Hungarian representatives abstaining, the Slovak constitution entered into force the same day as it was ratified.
Note: When drafting of the Slovak constitution began in September 1990, the Slovak National Council did not necessarily intend for the new constitution to be for an independent state. The 1968 CSFR interim constitution authorized each republic to create their own basic instruments to govern, meaning each republic could adopt its own constitution while still united as a federation. However, by the time the drafting process became the priority of the Slovak government in 1992, the separatist leadership anticipated the impending break up of the federation.