Irena Bihariová (born 15 September 1980) is a Slovak lawyer and politician. She was the leader of

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

from June 2020 to May 2022. In 2022, a meeting of the Progressive Slovakia party took place, where the only candidate,

Michal Šimečka Michal Šimečka (born 10 May 1984) is a Slovak politician, journalist, and researcher, who served as a Vice-President of the European Parliament between 2022 and 2023. He also became a Member of the European Parliament between 2019 and 2023. In ...

, ran. He was elected chairman of the Party and Irena Bihariová was elected vice-president of the Party.

Early life

Bihariová attended Faculty of Law at

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () 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 named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

in Bratislava, receiving a master's degree in 2009. She identifies herself as

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

, born in an "assimilated family". Since 2009, Bihariová has been leader the association People against Racism. On 29 July 2013, she became vice-chairwoman of the Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Racism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance at the Ministry of the Interior. She was elected for the "National Strategy for the Protection and Support of Human Rights in Slovakia".

Political career

On 8 May 2019, Bihariová was elected vice president of

. She finished fourth place during the February 2020 parliamentary elections with 46,798 votes. On 4 March 2020, Bihariová confirmed that she would run for party chairwoman. During the party congress on 6 June, Bihariová defeated Michal Truban. According to her, she was trying to enforce a "fragile balance between political idealism and pragmatism". During the

2023 Slovak parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in the Slovakia, Slovak Republic on 30 September 2023 to elect members of the National Council (Slovakia), National Council. Regular elections were scheduled to be held in 2024. However, on 15 December 202 ...

, she was elected as a member of the Progressive Slovakia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bihariova, Irena Progressive Slovakia politicians Slovak women lawyers Slovak Romani people Comenius University alumni Politicians from Trnava 1980 births Living people 21st-century Slovak lawyers 21st-century women lawyers Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027 Women members of the National Council (Slovakia) Romani women politicians Romani politicians