Ján Lunter (born 15 July 1951) is a Slovak entrepreneur, owner of a family food company
and, following the
November 2017 elections, governor of the
Banská Bystrica Region
The Banská Bystrica Region ( sk, Banskobystrický kraj, ; hu, Besztercebányai kerület, ) is one of the eight regions of Slovakia. It is the largest region by area, and has a lower population density than any other region. The Banská Bystric ...
.
Biography
Lunter studied
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson m ...
at the School of Electrical Engineering at the
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) ( sk, Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave) is the biggest and oldest university of technology in Slovakia. In the 2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities it was ranked in the fir ...
.
Following the
gentle revolution, he started a firm producing computer software and hardware, called Proces, and later started a food processing company called Alfa-Bio. In 2016 Alfa-Bio produced 160 tons of
tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...
and 100 tons of spreads.
Candidacy
Lunter announced plans to run for governor of the Banská Bystrica Region in January
and officially entered the race in April 2017.
By the end of August, Lunter had gained the support of
Peter Pellegrini
Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Health from December 2019 to March 2020. He previously served as deputy prime minister (2016–2018) an ...
of
Direction - Social Democracy
Direction may refer to:
*Relative direction, for instance left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down
** Anatomical terms of location for those used in anatomy
** List of ship directions
* Cardinal direction
Mathematics and science
* Directi ...
,
and later won support from
Most–Híd
Most–Híd (, ; from the Slovak and Hungarian words for "bridge") was an inter-ethnic political party in Slovakia. Its programme calls for greater cooperation between the country's Hungarian minority and ethnic Slovak majority. It was one of ...
and
Progressive Slovakia
Progressive Slovakia ( sk, Progresívne Slovensko) is a social-liberal, progressive, pro-European political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by European Parliament vice-president Michal Šimečka.
In the European Parliam ...
.
As candidates from other parties withdrew, many gave support to Lunter, including
Martin Klus
Martin Klus (born 8 June 1980) is a Slovak academic, commentator, politician and political theorist. He has a postgraduate diploma in Theory of Politics.
Prior to entering Slovak politics, Klus worked as a university lecturer and political an ...
, who withdrew on 3 October;
and
Viliam Baňák
Viliam is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Viliam Amersek or Vili Ameršek (born 1948), retired Slovenian football player
*Viliam Figuš-Bystrý (born Viliam Figuš) (1875–1937), Slovak composer, teacher, author of the first ...
, who withdrew on 4 October.
By November, Lunter had support of all parties excluding the far-right
Kotleba - People's Party Our Slovakia
People's Party Our Slovakia ( sk, Ľudová strana naše Slovensko, ĽSNS) is a far-right neo-Nazi political party in Slovakia. The party claims to derive its origin from the legacy of Ľudovít Štúr, Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso.
Positione ...
(the party of incumbent governor
Marian Kotleba
Marian Kotleba (; born 7 April 1977) is a Slovak politician and leader of the far-right, neo-Nazi ).
References
1951 births
Living people
Governors of Banská Bystrica Region
Slovak politicians
Slovak businesspeople
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava alumni
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