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 {{Slovakia-politician-stub