President of Slovakia

Slovakia
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Slovakia
Constitution Constitutional Court 1939 constitution
Executive President Andrej Kiska Government Prime Minister: Robert Fico
Legislature National Council Speaker: Andrej Danko
Recent elections Parliamentary 2006 2010 2012 2016 Presidential 1999 2004 2009 2014 European 2004 2009 2014
Political parties Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) Democratic and Christian Union – DP (SDKÚ) Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) Most–Híd National Party (SNS) Hungarian Coalition (SMK–MKP) People's Party – MDS (HZDS)
Administrative divisions Regions Districts Municipalities
Foreign relations Relations with Hungary
Other countries Atlas

The President of the Slovak Republic (Slovak: Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the president does exercise certain limited powers with absolute discretion. The president's official residence is the Grassalkovich Palace in Bratislava.

History of the office

The office was established by the constitution of Slovakia on 1 January 1993 when Slovakia permanently split from Czechoslovakia and became independent. The office was vacant until 2 March 1993 when the first president Michal Kováč was elected by the National Council of Slovak Republic. However, in 1998, the National Council was unable to elect a successor to Kováč. The result was that for half a year after Kováč's term ended in March 1998, the position was vacant. The duties and powers of the office were devolved upon the then prime minister and speaker of the National Council. In order to come to a solution, the constitution was changed to transfer election of the president to the people. Presidential elections have been held in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.

The current president is Andrej Kiska, who took office on 15 June 2014.

Role and powers

The President of Slovakia has a limited role in policy-making, as the office is largely ceremonial. According to the constitution, the president is the supreme representative of the state both in Slovakia and abroad.

Among his constitutional powers are nominating and appointing the Prime Minister, three judges of the constitutional court and three members of the judicial council. The president can also veto any bill (not including constitutional one) from the National Council. His veto can be overridden if the National Council passes the same bill again with majority of all members of the Council. The president also acts as the commander-in-chief of the Slovak armed forces.

Among his other constitutional duties are signing the bills into the law, appointing the ministers on the recommendation of the prime minister and appointing various other state officials: generals, professors, judges, rectors, procurators and such. The president can grant a parole on the recommendation of the minister of justice.

Presidents of the Slovak Republic

Parties

  HZDS   Independent   HZD

No.	President		Took office	Left office	Party	Term	Previous office
-		Vladimír Mečiar (1942–)	1 January 1993	2 March 1993	Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)	- (-)	Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (1990-1991, 1992-1994)
1		Michal Kováč (1930–2016)	2 March 1993	2 March 1998	Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS)	1 (1993)	Chairman of the Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (1992)
2		Rudolf Schuster (1936–)	15 June 1999	15 June 2004	Independent	2 (1999)	Member of the National Council (1998–1999) Mayor of Košice (1994–1999)
3		Ivan Gašparovič (1941–)	15 June 2004	15 June 2014	Movement for Democracy (HZD)	3 (2004)	Chairman of the National Council (1993–1998)
						4 (2009)
4		Andrej Kiska (1963–)	15 June 2014	Incumbent	Independent	5 (2014)	None

Acting Presidents

Latest election

Living former Presidents

There are two living former Slovak Presidents and one living former acting president:

• 
  Vladimír Mečiar
  (1993)
  (1942-07-26) July 26, 1942
• 
  Rudolf Schuster
  (1999-2004)
  (1936-01-04) January 4, 1936
• 
  Ivan Gašparovič
  (2004-2014)
  (1941-03-27) March 27, 1941

See also

• List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia
• List of Prime Ministers of Slovakia
• List of leaders of Slovak parliaments

References

1. ↑ "ZÁKON O PLATOVÝCH POMEROCH NIEKTORÝCH ÚSTAVNÝCH ČINITEĽOV SLOVENSKEJ REPUBLIKY" (PDF) (in Slovak). Government of Slovakia. 13 March 2013. 

Presidents of Slovakia
Slovak State	Jozef Tiso
Slovak Republic	Michal Kováč Rudolf Schuster Ivan Gašparovič Andrej Kiska