Jan Kasl (born 31 December 1951) is a Czech politician and former Mayor of the City of Prague and one of the leaders of the SNK European Democrats.

Biography

Kasl was born in 1951 in Prague. He studied

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, cs, České vysoké učení technické v Praze, ČVUT) is one of the largest university, universities in the Czech Republic with 8 faculties, and is one of the oldest institutes of technology in Centra ...

from 1970 to 1976. After graduation he worked as an architect for a

cooperative housing A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity, usually a cooperative or a corporation, which owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings; it is one type of housing tenure. Housing cooperatives are a distinc ...

enterprise. 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 founded his own architectural company, that he left after he became mayor of Prague in 1998. He is married for the second time with journalist Terezie Jungrová, his former media consultant and granddaughter of

Ferdinand Peroutka Ferdinand Peroutka (6 February 1895 – 20 April 1978) was a Czech journalist and writer. A prominent political thinker and journalist during the First Czechoslovak Republic, Peroutka was persecuted by the Nazi regime for his democratic convict ...

. He has three daughters from his first marriage and two grandchildren. Kasl is a Member of the Prague Society for International Cooperation, a respected NGO that stemmed from the Underground movement fighting Communism. The Society continues to fight corruption and help to forge a new generation of leaders in Central Europe. The Prague Society is a partner of th
Global Panel Foundation

Political career

After the Velvet Revolution he entered local politics in Prague. He was elected in 1990 into the city council for Civic Forum. After the break-up of Civic Forum he became a member of the Civic Democratic Party. At the end of its term in the city council he left politics. He returned to politics in 1998, when he became the mayor of Prague. In 2002 he resigned and left the Civic Democratic Party a few weeks before the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, because he thought that party was not able to deal with corruption. A few months later he founded the ''European Democrats'' party (also called ''Democrats of Jan Kasl''), now merged into the SNK European Democrats. Two months after the 2006 parliamentary elections (in which party won 2.1% of the vote but no seats) he decided to leave or at least take a break in his political career.

Involvement outside politics

Kasl is a member of Prague Society for International Cooperation, a respected NGO whose main goals are networking and the development of a new generation of responsible, well-informed leaders and thinkers.

References

External links

Už se skoro mohlo kopat, řekl k blobu jeho zastánce Jan Kasl (iDnes)

Jan Kasl (Czech Television)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasl, Jan 1951 births Living people Politicians from Prague Mayors of Prague SNK European Democrats politicians Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) mayors Czech Technical University in Prague alumni