Rudolf Schuster

Infobox President
name =Rudolf Schuster

---

order =2^nd President of Slovakia
term_start =June 15, 1999
term_end =June 15, 2004
prime_minister=
predecessor =Michal Kováč
successor =Ivan Gašparovič

order2=Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic
Slovak National Council until December 31, 1992
vicepresident2=
term_start2=October 30, 1998
term_end2=June 15, 1999
predecessor2=
successor2=

order3 =Mayor of the City of Košice
term_start3 =1994
term_end3 =June 15, 1999
prime_minister3=
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
order4 =Speaker of Slovak National Council
term_start4 =November 30, 1989
term_end4 =June 26, 1990
prime_minister4=
predecessor4 =Viliam Šalgovič
successor4 =František Mikloško
birth_date =birth date and age|1934|1|4
birth_place =Košice, Czechoslovakia
Present day Slovakia
spouse =Irena Schusterová (d.2008)
party =

Rudolf Schuster (born January 4, 1934 in Košice, Czechoslovakia) was the 2nd President of Slovakia (1999-2004). He was elected on May 29, 1999 and inaugurated on June 15. Schuster was defeated in the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he ran as an independent. He received 7.4% of the vote, with three other candidates (Ivan Gašparovič, Vladimír Mečiar and Eduard Kukan) receiving more than that. He was succeeded by Ivan Gašparovič. [citebook|title=Profiles of People in Power: the world's government leaders |author= Roger East, Richard Thomas|year= 2003|publisher=Routledge (UK)|id=ISBN 185743126X]

1964 to 1990, Schuster was a member of the Communist Party of Slovakia. Before becoming president, he was a mayor (Slovak: "primátor" ) of Košice in 1983-1986 and 1994-1999 respectively. He was also the last Communist president of the Slovak National Council (1989-1990), an ambassador of Czechoslovakia in Canada (1990-1992) and a leader of the Party of Civic Understanding ("SOP - Strana občianskeho porozumenia", 1998-1999).

He speaks Slovak, Czech, German, Russian, English and Hungarian fluently.

Schuster‘s father's family is of Carpathian German origin, while his mother's family is of Hungarian origin. Rudolf Schuster is married (spouse Irena Schusterová) and he has two children (son and daughter) and two granddaughters. In his private life, he is a sports fan, a traveller and a writer. He is also a camera fan.

In 1999 he received honorary citizenship from Miskolc, as recognition of the good cooperation between the city and Košice during his mayorship. [ [http://www.miskolc.hu/oldal.php?menupont_id=30&PHPSESSID=be541d32f4d63df3c693bf33c5e77591 Honorary citizens on the official homepage of Miskolc] ]

ee also

* List of Presidents of Slovakia
* Slovakia presidential election, 1999
* Slovakia presidential election, 2004
* List of leaders of Slovak parliaments
* List of political parties in Slovakia

References

External links

* [http://schuster.prezident.sk/ President Rudolf Schuster‘s official webpage]