Oto Žarnay (born 18 March 1969 in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

) is a Slovak teacher, anticorruption activist and politician. Between 2016 and 2020, he served as an MP of the National Council, elected on the

Ordinary People and Independent Personalities 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 ...

list. In February 2017, he was one of the founding members of the Together – Civic Democracy party.

Early life

Žarnay studied

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

at the University of Prešov. He worked as a proofreader, editor and teacher.

Whistleblower

Žarnay worked as a teacher at Commerce Academy high school on the Polárna street in Košice. He was also the director of the teacher parents association at the school. In 2013 he wrote a public letter to the Prime Minister

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the left-wing political party D ...

, stating that the school pays €400 monthly for likely bogus "external legal services". The management of the school refused to clarify the nature of services provided. In response the Minister of Education

Peter Pellegrini Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020. Pellegrini also served as the Minister of Health, ...

requested a meeting with Žarnay to discuss his concerns. Žarnay together with an MP Ján Mičovský filed a lawsuit against the school for wasteful and fraudulent use of public funds. The comptroller of Košice regional administration estimates that over the course of contract being in effect, the school paid a total of €12,000 without to a law firm without apparently receiving any services in return. In 2016, this finding was confirmed also by a central government auditor. After the contract became public knowledge, it was no longer extended and soon expired. Nonetheless, Žarnay was fired for "organizational reasons" along with a physical education teacher who spoke in his defense. The dismissal was declared invalid by the appellate court of the Košice region in December 2018. The new school principal subsequently announced that Žarnay, who became an MP in the meantime, was welcome to return to be a teacher after his political career ended if he wished to return.

Political career

Between 2014 and 2018, Žarnay served as a town councilor of Košice as an independent. Žarnay successfully ran in the

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 ...

also on the

list. In 2017 he joined Miroslav Beblavý,

Jozef Mihál Jozef Mihál (born 18 March 1965) is a Slovak politician and tax consultant. He was Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Labour, Social Affairs, and Family; and deputy leader of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS). Mihál attended Charles University i ...

, Katarína Macháčková, Zuzana Zimenová, Simona Petrík and Viera Dubačová ti start a new party called Democrats. Following the party failure to pass the representation threshold in 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� ...

he retired from politics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Žarnay, Oto 1969 births Living people Politicians from Košice OĽaNO politicians Democrats (Slovakia) politicians Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016–2020