Michal Kováč

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Michal Kováč (born 5 August 1930, Ľubiša) was a Slovak politician in the early 1990s (member of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia) and the first president of Slovakia after the creation of that state from 1993 to 1998.

He graduated from the present-day University of Economics in Bratislava and was a bank employee of the Státní banka československá and of other banks. As such, he spent some years in London and in Cuba in the 1960s. During the Normalization he was subject to some persecution.

During and after the Velvet Revolution, from December 12, 1989 to May 17, 1991 (when he resigned) he was the Finance Minister of the Slovak (Socialist) Republic.

In early 1991, he was one of the founders and was the vice-chairman of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. As such, he was elected a deputy to the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia in 1990. After the 1992 election he served as the speaker of the Federal Assembly. He played an important role in the process of the preparation of the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

He was elected president by the National Council of Slovakia in February 1993 (because he was a candidate of the biggest parliamentary party—the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia) and inaugurated on March 2, 1993. He soon became a strong opponent of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar and by a critical presidential address to the parliament in March 1994, Kováč significantly contributed to the deposition of the then Mečiar government and the creation of the Moravčík government (which however lasted only to the next parliamentary election in the autumn of 1994).

In 1995, the Mečiar-Kováč conflict culminated and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia cancelled Kováč's (formal) membership in that party. In August 1995, Kováč's son—who had been accused of financial crimes by German authorities—seems to have been kidnapped and brought to Austria. The president and opposition parties accused the Slovak secret police (SIS) and the government of having organized this kindnapping, but investigations having been carried on up to present have not provided any evidence for these claims.

Kováč's term ended on March 2, 1998. His candidature in the first direct Slovak presidential election, 1999 failed. He has not been very present in Slovak politics since then and has appeared only at some symbolic events.

Preceded by: Vladimír Mečiar (acting)

President of Slovakia 1993–1998

Succeeded by: Vladimír Mečiar(acting)

Presidents of Slovakia
First Slovak Republic: Jozef Tiso*(1939) | Jozef Tiso (1939-1945) Slovak Republic: Vladimír Mečiar*(1993) | Michal Kováč (1993-1998) | Vladimír Mečiar* and Ivan Gašparovič*(1998) | Mikuláš Dzurinda* and Jozef Migaš*(1998-1999) | Rudolf Schuster (1999-2004) | Ivan Gašparovič (2004-) | * denotes acting