Ján Slota

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Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Ján Slota

Incumbent
Assumed office July 4, 2006
In office January 1, 1993 – October 15, 2002
Mayor of the city of Žilina
In office 1990 – 2006
Preceded by	office created
Succeeded by	Ivan Harman

Born	September 14, 1953 (1953-09-14) (age 54) Lietavská Lúčka, Czechoslovakia
Political party	Slovak National Party

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Ján Slota (September 14, 1953 in Lietavská Lúčka) is the co-founder and President of the Slovak National Party (SNS).^[1]^[2] He was the mayor of the town of Žilina between 1990-2006. He is succeeded by Ivan Harman.

Slota became involved in politics after 1989 when the Communist party fell from power in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution. In 1990 he co-founded SNS and was elected as a member of the Federal Assembly. Later, he was elected into the National Council of the Slovak Republic. From 1994-1999 he served as the leader of SNS. After an internal crisis in the SNS in 2001, he left the party and set up his own party, the Genuine Slovak National Party . As a result of this split, none of the nationalist parties received the required 5% minimum of votes in the 2002 election. In 2003, the nationalist parties merged again, after heavy quarrels, with Slota as chairman.^[3]

Slota has served as the mayor of Žilina between 1990 and 2006, overseeing the modernization of the city. He was reelected in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, Slota became an MP and his SNS joined the ruling coalition with Robert Fico´s Direction - Social Democracy party and Vladimír Mečiar´s People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. As a part of the coalition agreement, Slota didn't obtain any government position.^{[citation needed]}

Slota is frequently criticized for his arrogance and nationalism. Slota says he is protecting Slovaks, especially those living in southern Slovakia. According to Der Spiegel Slota said the best policy for Romani was "a long whip in a small yard."^[2]^[1] He is quoted to say 'we will sit in our tanks and destroy Budapest'^[2] and questioning if homosexuals are normal people ^[4]. He is also quoted to say that Slavic blood had civilised the ugly, Mongolic Hungarians^[2] and associated homosexuals with pedophiles ^[5]. He believes 200 members of the Hungarian intelligence are spying in Slovakia^[6]. Slota said that the country's ethnic Hungarian minority "are a cancer in the body of the Slovak nation." ^[7]

Slota had illegally immigrated to Austria in 1971, where he participated in multiple grand theft autos, until he fled Austria in fear of persecution. He went back to Czechoslovakia, where he committed some store robberies in the Prievidza region before fleeing the country. After returning, his father, Milan had to voluntary enter the Czechoslovak secret service, the StB to save his son from prison^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

26 years ago, in 1982 Slota worked in the Nováky Power Plant, where during a demolition of a wooden cooling tower he gave the order to burn it down. The flames reached 70 meters and the wind blew the cinder as far as 500 meters.^[12] Slota was convicted of arson and sentenced to one year in prison suspended for two years^[12].

He confessed a total yearly income of 311 400 SKK^[13] in his 2006 annual tax return, however he himself confirmed that he bought a Bentley Continental GT^[14]^[15] for 2.6 million SKK in that year^[14]. In his ATR he also confessed that he has a luxury villa^[14] on the Croatian riviera^[14] as well as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S^[16] "borrowed by one of his friends to him for using^[16]".