Marek Krajčí (born 24 March 1974) is a Slovak politician. Krajčí served as deputy in the National Council from 2016 to 2020 as

OĽaNO Slovakia (), known as Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (, OĽANO) until 2023, is a populist political party in Slovakia. Founded in 2011 by former businessman Igor Matovič, the party champions anti-corruption, anti-elitist and an ...

candidate. Following his resignation, he returned to the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Amidst pressure from the public and rival political parties on 11 March 2021, he announced his intentions to resign as Minister of Health of Slovakia.

Political career

2016 and 2020 Slovak parliamentary elections

Krajčí ran

2016 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 5 March 2016 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The ruling left-wing populist Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) party remained the strongest party, but lost its majority. The ...

from fourth place as an independent OĽaNO candidate. He received 31,781 preferential votes and was elected as a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. During the

2020 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 29 February 2020 to elect all 150 members of the National Council. The populist Ordinary People and Independent Personalities–NOVA–Christian Union–Change from Below (OĽaNO–NOVA–KÚ� ...

, Krajčí received 143rd place on OĽANO candidate list. He received 35,515 preferential votes and was elected. On 21 October 2020, Krajčí served as Minister of Health of Slovakia in

Matovič's Cabinet The Cabinet of Igor Matovič was a Government of the Slovak Republic led by Prime Minister Igor Matovič. It was formed on 21 March 2020, following the 2020 parliamentary election as a coalition of four partiesOrdinary People and Independent Pe ...

Minister of Health

In 2020, Krajčí managed to enforce a strict curfew and approve a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

machine. However, the situation did not improve for two months as expected. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Krajčí deployed

Peter Stachura Peter D. Stachura is a British historian, writer, lecturer and essayist. He was Professor of Modern European History at the University of Stirling and Director of its Centre for Research in Polish History. He has published extensively on the subj ...

to manage the reprofiling of the hospital bed pool. Krajčí made sure affordable health care for people with COVID-19 by gradually sending the hospital bed pool and managing patient transfers. Together with

Igor Matovič Igor Matovič (born 11 May 1973) is a Slovak politician and former businessman. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia and List of Ministers of Finance of Slovakia, Minister of Finance from April 2021 to December 2022 and prim ...

, Krajčí secured the Russian Sputnik V vaccine for Slovakia, which they welcomed together at Košice Airport on 1 March 2020. This escalated long-standing tensions between the main representatives of the coalition and finally led to the outbreak of a government crisis.

Personal life

Krajčí is the author of various Christian music, including three albums of praise and worship and one children's album. He was also the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''Step of Christians in Society''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krajčí, Marek Living people Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020–2023 OĽaNO politicians Health ministers of Slovakia 1974 births Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027