BRATISLAVA — Slovakia will hold a referendum on July 4 to decide whether to cancel lifelong payments for former prime ministers and parliament speakers and whether to reopen the office of the special prosecutor that handled major crime and corruption cases. President Peter Pellegrini set the date for the nationwide vote.

The referendum follows a petition organized by the Democrats, a non-parliamentary pro-Western opposition party, that was signed by more than 350,000 citizens, the threshold required by law. Pellegrini said the referendum would not ask voters whether they support an early parliamentary election because a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling determined such a question is unconstitutional.

Under current rules, Slovak prime ministers and parliament speakers who have served at least two terms in office receive a lifelong payment equal to the salary of a sitting lawmaker after they leave office. The payments for former prime ministers and parliament speakers were introduced after an attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico's life in 2024, when Fico was shot and gravely wounded at a pre-election event. Before 2024, only former presidents received the lifelong payment benefit.

Later in 2024, Slovak lawmakers approved a plan by Fico's coalition government to abolish the office of the special prosecutor, which had handled serious crimes such as graft, organized crime and extremism. The legislation faced criticism at home and abroad, and thousands of Slovaks took to the streets to protest the law. A number of people linked to Fico's party had faced prosecution in corruption scandals. Since returning to power in 2023, Fico's pro-Russian and other policies prompted numerous protests.

Only one referendum in Slovakia's history, the 2003 vote on European Union membership, has been successful. Other referendums failed due to low turnout.