Slovak elections & democracy explained

In the first video of our series about elections and democracy, we talk about the parliamentary elections and history of democracy in Slovakia.
Preferujete slovenčinu? Pozrite si slovenskú verziu tohto videa na našom kanáli: • Video
Corrections:
- At 05:41 we say 5% of votes to move up on the ballot. This should be 3%.
- We mistakenly refer to the US Senate and Congress where we should say Senate and House of Representatives.The US has a bicameral system which as a whole is called Congress. (thanks Cheydinal for pointing this out)
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With Ciceroni we seek to be a guide to European culture and history. We make videos on little known subjects as well as more ubiquitous ones, ranging from current affairs like the European Union, to historic events like the Tulip Mania, and even mythological stories like those of the Greek Gods. In all these videos we strive to present the subjects in a objective manner and within their complex context.

Пікірлер: 76

  • @Wildboy789789
    @Wildboy7897893 жыл бұрын

    "The slovaks are going to the poles"... interesting lol

  • @hubertk7363

    @hubertk7363

    2 жыл бұрын

    Fun fact: several months after this video, the poles went to slovaks. Polish soldiers accidentaly crossed the border and "occupied" a chapel.

  • @balsakovacevic8423
    @balsakovacevic84234 жыл бұрын

    i am glad you are still making videos. It's a shame more people don't see them.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for your positive comment. We are planning to finally make some more this year and are very happy to hear that our work is appreciated! :)

  • @cheydinal5401
    @cheydinal54014 жыл бұрын

    No, "Congress" is both the US Senate and House of Representatives combined. Like how the UK "Parliament" consists of the Commons and Lords

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    You are of course totally right! Thanks for pointing it out. Unfortunately, we can’t change the video but we’ll put a correction in the description.

  • @ZemplinTemplar
    @ZemplinTemplar2 жыл бұрын

    Minor correction: Czechoslovakia was already federal since the late 1960s, as a concession after the Soviet invasion of 1968 and subsequent occupation. When Czechoslovakia returned to democracy in 1990, it retained the existing federal system (with a few democratic reforms, of course) until the dissolution in 1993.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the correction:)

  • @Wilco4009
    @Wilco40094 жыл бұрын

    It has been too long since I've seen one of your videos, good work as always.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the compliment. We’ll make sure you don’t have to wait too long for the next one.

  • @asdsdjfasdjxajiosdqw8791
    @asdsdjfasdjxajiosdqw87914 жыл бұрын

    Could you do a video on how bicameral systems came to be and how upper houses have been and are transforming. It's interesting how in some countries like the UK the upper house is till very much the check on democratic power as it was intended hundreds of years ago, whereas in other countries like Belgium is has evolved into a check for regional voices on the national democracy. Or how in Ireland the upper house has many elements of a meritocracy, with certain seats going to the country's universities for example.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    You raise some good questions. We are indeed planning on making a video on these differences. And in addition to the (reasons behind the) differences of bicameral systems, why some countries have multiple chambers while others don't.

  • @Oleksa-Derevianchenko
    @Oleksa-Derevianchenko3 жыл бұрын

    Wow, that's really interesting and educational! I think I'll check out the Slovak version as well. Greetings from Ukraine! 🇺🇦🇲🇩🇬🇪❤️🇸🇰❤️🇪🇺

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! We hope we'll hear your thoughts when we make a video on Ukraine too!

  • @Oleksa-Derevianchenko

    @Oleksa-Derevianchenko

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 oh, so you're going to make a video on Ukraine. I'm turning the notifications on, so that I don't miss it! :)

  • @colenelson6721
    @colenelson67214 жыл бұрын

    Really great video, very informative!

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Glad you like it.

  • @daca8395
    @daca83954 жыл бұрын

    Didn't know this channel was slovak! Great video, guys! Love from Serbia🇸🇰❤️🇷🇸 (I'm not gonna atempt to write is Slovak, as my understanding is really basic)

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    We're not, but we plan on making videos on all national elections with help of locals. Hopefully in local languages as well like with the two versions of the Slovak video :)

  • @Prysfart
    @Prysfart4 жыл бұрын

    good job ciceroni ;)

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Joost;)

  • @nadrini300
    @nadrini3006 ай бұрын

    Watching this again after reading the recently concluded Slovak elections! 😀

  • @marinmilevoj4829
    @marinmilevoj48294 жыл бұрын

    Is a video on Croatia coming out? Since we are having an election this year. Also I must add, you make some great stuff. I hope you continue making these videos.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for your kind words! We are indeed planning to make a video about Croatian democracy before the elections this year. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on that video then :)

  • @bladfadsfblaadsfsadf900
    @bladfadsfblaadsfsadf9004 жыл бұрын

    5:30 Got a good laugh out of the Life of Brian reference

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Glad that you got our reference :)

  • @nolifeispower494
    @nolifeispower4944 жыл бұрын

    Great video! But I hoped for short current-parties presentation in the end. Who's leading in polls and their ideas. Well done anyways

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! I understand you want to know more about the parties, but giving an overview of the current parties (and their programmes) is rather difficult to do in a neutral and objective way.

  • @nolifeispower494

    @nolifeispower494

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 I think giving 5 ideas per party from their programmes is fair enough

  • @szalailaci3722

    @szalailaci3722

    4 жыл бұрын

    In Romania for example it would be difficult to give an overview, because the two largest parties who dominated the country for decades, say one thing and do something else. Their real progam is corruption. One is Social Democrats but they never cared about social issues, they just tried to crash democracy and gain absolute power. (They aren't really pro EU.) Since December 2019 the right wing Liberals try the same. At least they call themselves right wing and they are. The left electorate never had the choice whom to vote.

  • @joaovitormatos8147
    @joaovitormatos81474 жыл бұрын

    I thought this channel had died... This "Election and Democracy is an upcoming series or just this video?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Haha yeah we were quiet for a while. Planning to do some more videos this year so stay tuned. Among which some other videos on democracies and elections :)

  • @od9694

    @od9694

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 we are waiting 😂😂

  • @MikeMaris
    @MikeMaris4 жыл бұрын

    7:00 America has a Senate and a House of Representatives both of them together are referred as congress. Also i find it very interesting how the national council doesnt directly make laws and only approves of them. I wonder how that changes politics there

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ai, thanks for pointing that out. Should have noticed that... The members of the National Council have the right of initiative, so they can actually propose new laws. Each of these proposals then has to be accepted by the National Council as a whole

  • @nedimbajgoric2909
    @nedimbajgoric29093 жыл бұрын

    I wish Bosnian democracy was that simple. Are you planing to do a video about western balkan countries?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    3 жыл бұрын

    We are planning to do many or even all European countries. So I hope we will get around to all of them :)

  • @slovajednoduche9640
    @slovajednoduche96403 ай бұрын

    It’s always not a fair game from the starting block to have axis of evil deciding your future

  • @mirabeaux851
    @mirabeaux851 Жыл бұрын

    7:07 Congress refers to the whole national legislature, not the lower house.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    Жыл бұрын

    True, we realised it just after publishing… thanks for pointing it out.

  • @Fummy007
    @Fummy0074 жыл бұрын

    What happened to the Senate?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Before the war they were already thinking how to simplify the system. In 1938 (with an increasing authoritarian regime) a new Chamber of the Slovak Republic was established. Even though it was established through non-democratic means, it became the highest legislative body. After the war they simply kept and kept on reforming this system instead of going back to the Austrio-Hungarian system with a senate.

  • @nolifeispower494
    @nolifeispower4944 жыл бұрын

    Who in Slovakia gets votes applied for parties below 5%? Are they excluded or #1 party gest them?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    They are basically lost. The seats are divided among all parties that reached the threshold based on their percentages. For example, the winning party had about 25% of all votes, but about 35% of the votes after the parties that didn’t reach the threshold are taken out of the game. So they get about 35% of the seats.

  • @nolifeispower494

    @nolifeispower494

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 thanks!

  • @Mrkva22296

    @Mrkva22296

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@nolifeispower494 however, If you are a legitimate Slovak voter and you choose not to vote, your vote is not excluded. After all the votes have been counted, your vote goes to the winning party, whoever that is. Yes, it doesnt help the party to pass, cuz they already won, however it helps them get more seats in the parliament. Thats why we try to persuade everybody to go and vote so that their vote isnt wasted on a party they would never choose.

  • @alaeboufarrachene7550
    @alaeboufarrachene75503 жыл бұрын

    Small mistake : The lower house of the legislative branch of the American federal government is known as the “House of Representatives”, Congress is the name of the Bicameral entity as a whole.

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    3 жыл бұрын

    You are right of course.. thanks for the feedback!

  • @RicardoBorges396
    @RicardoBorges396 Жыл бұрын

    Very similar to Portugal

  • @michalgajdos300
    @michalgajdos3004 жыл бұрын

    ehm... the federation was actually established in 1969

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    A little detail we left out for simplification purposes, but nice that you spot it:) You are right that from 1969 onwards, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was officially a federal republic. However with the power centralised with the communist party, it was more of a formality than anything else. In 1990 it reformed into a new federal republic.

  • @Jayvee4635
    @Jayvee46352 жыл бұрын

    Czechia and Slovakia are basically amicable ex-lovers

  • @Bram06
    @Bram064 жыл бұрын

    Could you do Germany next? I think that'd be interesting, considering how many quirks Germany parliamentary democracy has. Such as the President and Chancellor

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Germany is definitely interesting. We’re working on a few videos simultaneously, including Germany. However, we’ll prioritise the countries that have elections coming up in 2020. So you might have to wait a bit longer for the German version.

  • @azDanqs
    @azDanqs19 күн бұрын

    im from slovakia and still kinda confused about this myself

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    11 күн бұрын

    Haha, well I'm sure you're not the only one ;)

  • @Jokkkkke
    @Jokkkkke4 жыл бұрын

    You not going to talk about Slovakia’s democratic backsliding in the 90s?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    We couldn’t cover everything of course. Which ‘backsliding’ do you mean exactly?

  • @Jokkkkke

    @Jokkkkke

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 That's fair. I brought up my point in an admittedly annoying way just to bring the point up. But anyways, I'm referring to what can be better called the period of democratic regression that lasted from 1994-1998 during the premiership of Vladimír Mečiar. I just figured his historical legacy would be quite considerable to modern Slovak democracy. Thoughts?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    I fully agree, it certainly adds to the legacy, however it didn't lead to direct changes to the system itself (e.g. how to vote, government bodies) so it didn't make the cut. Sadly we can't put everything into a video such as this. We also could have gone into much more detail in the rest of the history. The communist times for example has plenty of interesting depth we missed out on. That being said, it is a very interesting time in Slovakian history and might even warrant a separate video. What do you think?

  • @Jokkkkke

    @Jokkkkke

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ciceroni Okay, that makes complete sense! Yeah, I’d love to see a video on that, especially given the growing popularity of radical right wing Slovak politicians who use his legacy, as well as Mečiar’s own return to politics

  • @ilikedota5
    @ilikedota54 жыл бұрын

    This seems like an interesting cross between alot of ideas... Why is the premier translated as prime minister? Is that just something I didn't know about? I thought premier and prime minister refer to different things in general, at least in the English language. @7:10, that's not entirely correct. For some reason or another, we (usually) refer to members of the House of Representatives as Congresspersons/man/woman, not Representatives. That's why there is a misconception that the House of Reps is Congress, even though Congress is the proper name for the both houses/chambers. Its most correct as a whole to say House of Representatives and Representatives, and leave Congress and Congressperson to refer to both houses/chambers and members of both houses/chambers. Senators, (members of the Senate), won't like if you call them that because they serve longer terms, are (supposedly) more prestigious. Come on, do any of you people living in the USA actually know who your Senators are? Also the Courts?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    In most countries Premier and Prime Minister are interchangeable titles. In Slovakia they refer to him (among other titles) as the Premier. The English translation of Prime Minister seems to cover this the best. I believe the British system uses Premier more for the leader of overseas territories. Thanks for pointing out the mistake on Congress etc. Sadly we overlooked this before we published it…

  • @ilikedota5

    @ilikedota5

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ciceroni1 I don't blame you at all though, I found that really weird, especially considering that the US Constitution is quite clear. Also I find saying the word Representative is less awkward than saying Congressman/woman/person and is more direct. Tells you the function rather than the form.

  • @Mrkva22296

    @Mrkva22296

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@ilikedota5 because the Slovak language simply works that way? Why is that so unusual to you?

  • @rat_king-
    @rat_king-8 ай бұрын

    The slovaka are going to the pols... Me: war?

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    2 ай бұрын

    Haha I don't think the Slovaks would try that :P

  • @patheirbrown4158
    @patheirbrown41583 жыл бұрын

    The us senate job is to live up to the word senax or old man they create legislation that may be beneficial for the nation long term its the reason why they don't get the power of the purse that goes to the house of representatives since they are on a shorter election cycle and are more easily influenced by people.

  • @Mrkva22296
    @Mrkva222964 жыл бұрын

    Thank you but please stop saying Czechoslovakian, it is Czechoslovak, or Slovakian, it is Slovak (Republic, language, citizenship...) and the people are Slovaks not Slovakians. The people who lived in Czechoslovakia (a federation state of Czechs and Slovaks) were Czechs and Slovaks. Not Czechoslovaks. Sure, they had Czechoslovak citizenship, but in the lands of modern day Slovakia there were mostly ethnic Slovaks who spoke Slovak language, and in the lands of modern day Czechia there were mostly ethnic Czechs who spoke Czech language. When somebody says there were Czechoslovaks, he/she makes it sound as if it was one thing when in fact it was a federation of two things. Many peolple think people in Czechoslovakia spoke Czech only and Slovaks are basically Czechs who split from them. Thats why using correct terms is important because some people from the west who have no idea about this, might assume false information

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for pointing it out. We were quite careful not to use the wrong terms here, so I hope we didn't (too often). BTW did you see we made the same video in Slovak as well?:) kzread.info/dash/bejne/g6udqpaqdK6smLQ.html

  • @CatShym
    @CatShym3 жыл бұрын

    we have so mutch corruption in slovakia

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    3 жыл бұрын

    Sadly Slovakia is not the only country with that problem. Best thing to do is vote for good people you trust and support those fighting against corruption.

  • @itspronouncednikolaj333

    @itspronouncednikolaj333

    3 жыл бұрын

    Every country has corruption problem, some are just better at hiding it.

  • @attilapalotas1915
    @attilapalotas19152 жыл бұрын

    lie

  • @Ciceroni1

    @Ciceroni1

    2 жыл бұрын

    What exactly is a lie?:)