Erika Jurinová (born 31 August 1971) is a Slovak teacher and politician. In 2010–2018, she was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the National Council. Since 2017, she has served as the governor of the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region ( sk, Žilinský kraj; pl, Kraj żyliński; hu, Zsolnai kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region ...

. She is the first, and as of 2022 only, female regional governor in Slovakia.

Early life

Jurinová studied clothing design at the

Technical University of Liberec The Technical University of Liberec is a university in the city of Liberec, Czech Republic. The university has undergone great transformation in its over sixty-year history. When it was founded, it was called the Institute of Mechanical Engineering ...

, graduating in 1994. After graduation, until 2002, she worked as a teacher at the United School in

Námestovo Námestovo ( hu, Námesztó; pl, Namiestów) is a town in northern Slovakia. It is the capital and largest town of Námestovo District in the Žilina Region. its population was 7,827. Etymology The name is derived from a word ''námesta'' (a re ...

. In 2007, she became the chief editor of a regional advertisement newspaper owned by her future political ally

Igor Matovič Igor Matovič (born May 11, 1973) is a Slovak politician and former businessman. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia and Minister of Finance from April 2021 to December 2022 and Prime Minister from March 2020 to March 2021. ...

Political career

National Council

In the

2010 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 12 June 2010. The elections were contested by eighteen parties, six of which passed the 5% threshold for sitting in parliament. Despite the incumbent Smer of Prime Minister Robert Fico winning a p ...

Jurinová was elected on the Freedom and Solidarity. In 2010, she became the founding member of the

Ordinary People and Independent Personalities Ordinary People and Independent Personalities) ( sk, Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti) is a conservative political party in Slovakia. The anti-establishment party founded in 2011 won the 2020 parliamentary election on an anti-corrupt ...

party. She was reelected to the parliament in 2012 and 2016. In 2018 she resigned her seat to be able to focus on her duties as the Regional Governor.

Žilina region governor

In 2017 Jurinová became the governor by defeating the incumbent

Juraj Blanár Juraj Blanár (born 16 May 1966) is a Slovak politician. He is currently the minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia. He served as a member of the National Council from 2002 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2023. From 2020 to 2023 ...

by 14 percentage points. In 2022, she comfortably retained her seat.

Personal life

Jurinová is married and has three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurinova, Erika OĽaNO politicians Living people 1971 births Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012-2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Female members of the National Council (Slovakia) People from Tvrdošín District 21st-century Slovak women politicians Technical University of Liberec alumni