Meciar History

Unlike his political opponents Vladimir Meciar embraces the german model...

Vladimir Meciar, a former Prime Minister of Slovakia, was often feared and hated, and during his stay in power he proved to be a dictator-like leader. Meciar was the first prime minister of independent Slovakia.

For a typical sample of his distinctive style in political speeches please click here (part of the excellent blog Roger has)

In April, 2001, he reportedly said, "99% of what they were writing about me wasn't true, especially the negative part." Former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar blames the media for loss of popularity. He has sued the newspaper, but the Highest Court canceled the lawsuit outcome in early April of 2001 between the former Mr. Meciar's government and the daily newspaper SME, which was supposed to pay each government member a high fine for writing badly about them. This lawsuit has been getting much publicity in the last five years, as many saw it as a way to shut down the newspaper entirely.

Vladimir Meciar the Dinosaur
Meciar was born on July 26, 1942. In a town of central Slovak called Zvolen. The small town was surrounded by rugged countryside and some hillside villages which provided Meciar with his personal and political basis. In 1959 he began to work for a local government administration in Ziar na Hronom as a clerk dealing with economic matters. In 1962 Meciar joined the communist party. Following that, in 1965, he graduated from Komsomol College in Moscow. The college was a training ground for young communists. He soon rose to become chairman at the District National Committee in Ziar. From 1967 through 1969, Meciar was the deputy chairman of the district People’s Control Committee.

Luring tactics were used in his campaigns. Meciar appealed to women. He has rugged features tipped off with a little lost boy smile. In 1994 he used his looks for a poster which the slogan said, “Only he can do it!” Meciar did not want to be left behind. He did all he could to keep on top of things. He was accused of blackmailing, brow beating his allies, and using authoritarian and dictatorial methods of governing. He was also charged by his enemies with personally creating a crisis which demonstrated his persistent political style of "Divide and Rule." He still managed to stay on the top whenever he was pushed down, and no other Slovak politician could even come close to him.

Meciar met his match with President Michal Kovac. The blood between Kovac and Meciar thickened when they battled for control over the secret service. Meciar won this battle and appointed a close ally, Ivan Lexa, as the head of the secret service. He accomplished this by having parliament vote to transfer the right of appointment of the head position from the president to the government. As if this wasn’t enough, another twist was added. Serious allegations of overt political use of the police and secret services were brought to attention by a saddening event. Michal Kovac Jr. was driven across the Slovak-Austrian border in the trunk of a car on August 31, 1995, and confined in connection with a fraud case in Germany. President Kovac publicly accused the secret service of kidnapping his son. But the only witness was a former police officer who was killed in a car explosion. And coincidentally two police investigators were removed from the case after implying that the secret service did take part. But no one could actually prove exactly what had happened, and Meciar said that repeatedly. And so it was, nothing was proven.

On a Slovak television program, Meciar denied lying about the course he took in his political life. He said, “Nobody has ever proved any lie by me.. I don’t accuse anybody, even when I know who is lying and when. I have more feelings for the truth in myself than all other Slovak politicians.” On a lighter subject, on the television program, Meciar describes himself as a hopeless romantic who likes to wander through towns or woods when the moon is full. He also said that his favorite composer is Tchaikovsky. He has a passion for watching wrestling until the late night hours.

Meciar had a large part in the split between Slovakia and the Czech Republic in January 1993. Although he did do this for his country, he was still censured by other foreign governments. Meciar’s party had won the general elections in 1998. He got the most individual votes with 470,556 oppose to 304,071 for Mikulas Dzurinda, one of his opponents. Despite the results in the general elections, Meciar’s party decided to nominate someone else to try and form a new government, ousting Meciar. Meciar then in October bid farewell to his followers. He did this in a rather unusual way. He said farewell to them in a song: “ I loved the life and I still love it. I lived in full, I gave you everything. And what am I supposed to do now? Let us sing: Farewell, I am leaving you, I didn’t hurt any of you. Be well."

Vladimer Meciar proved to be a powerful, dictator-like leader. Although some agreed with his ways and supported him, others thought that his authoritarian way of governing is the reason Slovakia has found itself in trouble.