Vladimir Meciar

Vladimír Mečiar (born 26 July 1942) is a former Prime Minister of Slovakia:

1990 Minister of the Interior of the Slovak Republic (within Czechoslovakia),

1990-91 and 1992-1994 and 1994-1998 Prime Minister of Slovakia (until 1992 within Czechoslovakia),

since 1991 the leader of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), called "People's Party-HZDS (Ľudová strana-HZDS)" since 2000

He has been described as having an autocratic style of administration.

He was born in Zvolen, the eldest of four boys. His father was a tailor, and his mother a housewife.

Meciar has been involved in a number of scandals, including a possible kidnapping (not proven as of 2003).

Although Meciar won the September 1998 election, Mikulas Dzurinda became the new Prime Minister.