Ján Slota

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Ján Slota (born 14 September 1953) is a Slovak politician, known as a founder and former president of the Slovak National Party (SNS). He led the party for several years and became a prominent, controversial figure in Slovak politics.

Slota served as the mayor of Žilina from 1990 to 2006. He also held national political roles, including member of the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly (1990–1992) and later a member of Slovakia’s National Council (1992–2002 and 2006–2012). He co‑founded the SNS in 1990 and led it from 1994 to 1999. After internal splits, he formed the Genuine Slovak National Party, but the nationalist parties merged again in 2003 with Slota as chairman.

In 2006, Slota’s SNS joined the ruling coalition with Robert Fico’s Direction-Social Democracy (Smer-SD) and the People’s Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. After an unsuccessful 2012 election, he stepped down as SNS chairman and became Honorary Chairman. He was expelled from the party in April 2013 over issues tied to party property management.

Slota is known for his highly controversial and often inflammatory statements, which many described as racist or extremist. He has spoken against Hungarians, Roma, and LGBT people, and he praised Slovakia’s wartime leader Jozef Tiso. These comments drew international criticism and affected Slovak politics.

A native of Lietavská Lúčka, Slota briefly lived in Austria in 1971. He is Roman Catholic. He has faced legal cases and public scrutiny over the years, including a 1982 conviction related to an incident at a power plant.