it is during this period that the infamous Mečiar amnesties, which ended one of the darkest episodes of our modern history, fall.
swordsman, unelected “president”
The year is 1998. Unlike today, the president of the Slovak Republic is elected indirectly – by the parliament in a secret ballot. In the event of his non-election, most of the powers of the president were to pass to the government, i.e. to its chairman, who at that time was none other than Vladimír Mečiar.
He decided to use this legislative fact to his advantage. HZDS, which was at the head of the government coalition, therefore boycotted the presidential election and did not field any of its own candidates. So it happened that when the mandate of President Michal Kováč ended on March 2, 1998, Slovakia found itself in a paradoxical situation. Formally, it had no president.
According to the 1992 constitution, almost all of his powers were transferred to the prime minister. Mečiar immediately used them. Just a few hours after the end of President Kováč’s term of office, he announced his infamous amnesty on March 3. These concerned the most famous cases of his four-year government, such as the introduction of Michal Kováč Jr. to Austria, or the thwarting of the 1997 referendum.
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