Oto Žarnay

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Oto Žarnay (born 18 March 1969 in Košice) is a Slovak teacher, anticorruption activist and politician. He served as a member of Slovakia’s National Council from 2016 to 2020, elected on the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities list. In February 2017 he helped found the Together – Civic Democracy party.

Education and work
Žarnay studied pedagogy at the University of Prešov. He worked as a proofreader, editor and teacher, including at the Commerce Academy high school in Košice, where he was also the director of the teachers’ association.

2013–2016 controversy over external legal services
In 2013 he wrote to Prime Minister Robert Fico about the school paying about €400 a month for external legal services that were not clearly explained. The school’s management refused to clarify, so Žarnay and MP Ján Mičovský filed a lawsuit accusing waste of public funds. An auditor later found that about €12,000 had been paid to a law firm without clear evidence of services. The contract was not renewed and expired. He was fired from the school in 2016 for “organizational reasons,” a dismissal later declared invalid by the appellate court in December 2018. The new principal said he could return to teaching after his political career.

Political career and later years
From 2014 to 2018 Žarnay was an independent town councilor of Košice. He ran in the 2016 parliamentary elections on the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities list. In 2017 he joined a group of politicians to form the Democrats party, led by Miroslav Beblavý, Jozef Mihál, Katarína Macháčková, Zuzana Zimenová, Simona Petrík and Viera Dubačová. After the Democrats failed to cross the representation threshold in the 2020 elections, Žarnay left politics.