František Mikloško (born 2 June 1947) is a
Slovak politician. He was the
Speaker of the Slovak National Council from 1990 to 1992. And a long serving MP of the
National Council of the Slovak Republic
The National Council of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Národná rada Slovenskej republiky), abbreviated to ''NR SR'', is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under ...
(1990-2010). For most of his career, he was a member of
Christian Democratic Movement
The Christian Democratic Movement ( sk, Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie, KDH) is a Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International.
H ...
.
Early life
Mikloško studied Mathematics at the
Comenius University
Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...
, graduating in 1966. Already as a student, he was active in the activities of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, which had a complicated relationship with the Communist regime at the time. At first, Mikloško's activities were limited to low profile organization of small student gatherings while working as a researcher at the
Slovak Academy of Sciences
The Slovak Academy of Sciences ( sk, Slovenská akadémia vied, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestab ...
. However, since 1980s, Mikloško started gradually to contribute to organization of large religious pilgrimages, which has attracted the attention of the Communist regime. In 1983 he was fired from the Academy and could only work in manual occupations. In spite of the regime repression, Mikloško continued to organize increasingly anti-regime rallied, most prominently the
Candle demonstration in Bratislava
The Candle demonstration ( sk, sviečková demonštrácia) on 25 March 1988 in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, was the first mass demonstration since 1969 against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
The demonstration was organized by ...
in 1988. After the
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...
, he became the first
Speaker of the Slovak National Council.
Political Career
Mikloško was one of the longest-serving members of parliament in Slovakia. He was also a candidate in the
2004 presidential election and the
2009 presidential election. Mikloško did not participate in 2010 parliament election and retired from politics.
On 12 March 2008 František Mikloško, together with
Vladimír Palko
Vladimír Palko (born 20 May 1957 in Čuňovo) is a Slovak politician. He is a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and former interior minister of Slovakia. On 12 March 2008 he established a new party called Conservative Dem ...
,
Pavol Minárik Pavol is a masculine Slovak given name, equivalent to Paul. Notable people with the name include:
* Pavol Adami (1739–1795), Slovak scientist and scholar, one of the first veterinarians
* Pavol Baláž (born 1984), Slovak footballer
*Pavol Biroš ...
, and
Rudolf Bauer, established a new party called
Conservative Democrats of Slovakia
The Conservative Democrats of Slovakia ( sk, Konzervatívni demokrati Slovenska, KDS) is a defunct Slovak political party established by four MPs (František Mikloško, Vladimír Palko, Rudolf Bauer and Pavol Minárik) who belonged to the Christ ...
which was dissolved in 2014.
After 15 years, Mikloško returned to run for
KDH ahead of
2023 parliamentary election.
References
1947 births
Living people
Politicians from Nitra
Christian Democratic Movement politicians
Conservative Democrats of Slovakia politicians
Comenius University alumni
Candidates for President of Slovakia
Slovak mathematicians
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1992-1994
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1994-1998
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1998-2002
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2002-2006
Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2006-2010
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