Igor Matovič

Early life and business career

Igor Matovič was born in Trnava on 11 May 1973. In 1993, he began to study at the Faculty of Management at Comenius University, graduating in 1998. However, as Matovič admitted in 2021, he plagiarized his diploma thesis.

He founded a business in 1997 and worked as the chief executive of a local media publishing house from 2002 to 2010. Matovič later signed over his assets to his wife, Pavlína (née Repaska). Agence France-Presse described him as an "eccentric self-made millionaire and former media boss" who had become "a media-savvy but unpredictable politician".

Political career

In 2010, Matovič founded the Ordinary People (Obyčajní ľudia) civic movement, which was generally centre-right and emphasized anti-corruption. Matovič advertised the civic movement using free leaflets distributed by his family's press company. Along with three other OĽaNO MPs, he first won election at the 2010 election on the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) list. He sat in the SaS caucus until February the following year, when he supported the opposition Smer's proposed restrictions on Multiple citizenship. Matovič's opposition to the government's position led to SaS being dropped from the coalition. In 2011, Iveta Radičová's government fell apart, which led to new elections in 2012. Led by Matovič, Ordinary People was reconstituted into OĽaNO (Ordinary People and Independent Personalities), an independent political party. OĽaNO won 8.55% and 16 seats. He stayed in the opposition as he was unwilling to work with Smer-SD.

As the leader of OĽaNO, Matovič attracted attention by campaigning against corruption. To oppose parliamentary immunity, he parked his car on a pedestrian crossing and showed his parliamentary pass to police who tried to tow it; to oppose corruption, he took a polygraph test stating that he had never accepted bribes. However, Robert Fico accused Matovič of impropriety in effecting a fictitious sale of the regionPRESS business for 122 million Slovak koruna to employee Pavel Vandák, who supposedly got the money from an internal account. Matovič denies this.

Prime Minister of Slovakia

Matovič's party OĽaNO got the plurality of votes in the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election on 29 February 2020, winning 53 seats in the 150-member National Council with 25.02% of the vote. Corruption was a major issue in the election, which helped Matovič, who had long positioned himself as an anti-corruption activist. On 13 March, Matovič announced he had reached an agreement for a governing coalition with the other centrist and right-wing parties We Are Family, Freedom and Solidarity and For the People, though they had not agreed upon a common governing program. He did not disclose his picks for the new cabinet. Matovič submitted his cabinet selection to President Zuzana Čaputová on 16 March; she accepted all of the appointments. The new cabinet's composition was revealed on 18 March and was sworn in on 21 March.

Sociologist of the Bratislava Policy Institute, Michal Vašečka, stated that "Matovič has started to transform the anger of the society into a class war: city vs. countryside, educated vs. uneducated, common people vs. the elites." He suggested that it would result in political polarization.

Plagiarism controversy

In July 2020, Matovič admitted to plagiarizing his master's thesis after an investigation from Denník N found that entire pages and charts were lifted from the sources. He said he would step down after all his election promises were fulfilled. Comenius University in Bratislava confirmed the plagiarism of the master's thesis.

Government crisis and resignation

In March 2021, MP and chair of the parliamentary European affairs committee Tomáš Valášek announced his quitting from the government coalition and the For the People party in reaction to the purchase and subsequent arrival of the first 200,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine which Matovič and Minister of Health Marek Krajčí welcomed at the Košice airport. Following weeks of negotiations during the government crisis which ensued, Matovič resigned as prime minister on 30 March 2021. A new government was appointed with former Minister of Finance Eduard Heger of OĽANO becoming prime minister.

As a result of the plagiarism scandal and government crisis, Matovič's approval rating tanked from 64% in April 2020 to 15% in April 2021.

Minister of finance

Following the government crisis and his resignation as PM, Matovič was appointed Minister of Finance in the newly-formed Cabinet of Eduard Heger.

Personal life

Matovič is married to Pavlína Matovičová, with whom he has two daughters.

References

References

1. (21 March 2020). "Slovakia president appoints centre-right coalition government".
2. (16 October 2022). "Poll: Sulík's approval rating has fallen to a record low". Petit Press.
3. Kirschbaum, Stanislav. (2013). "Historical Dictionary of Slovakia". Scarecrow Press.
4. (1 November 2022). "Prime Minister publicly admits plagiarizing his diploma thesis".
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6. Terenzani-Stanková, Michaela. (10 February 2011). "Coalition loses another MP". [[The Slovak Spectator]].
7. (16 September 2010). "Matovič zaparkoval na priechode, mobilizoval pred referendom". Sme.
8. Cameron, Rob. (4 March 2020). "Europe's Mr Ordinary prepares for power". BBC News.
9. (1 March 2020). "Slovakia election: seismic shift as public anger ousts dominant Smer-SD party". The Guardian.
10. (2 March 2020). "Slovakia: the end of Smer's rule, the triumph of Igor Matovič". OSW Centre for Eastern Studies.
11. (13 March 2020). "Slovak election winner secures four-party coalition with cabinet deal". Reuters.
12. (17 March 2020). "Matovič predstaví ministrov zrejme až v stredu". Sme.
13. (18 March 2020). "Nie Grendel, ministrom vnútra bude Mikulec. Matovič predstavil svoju vládu". Hospodárské noviny.
14. Brokaw, Sommer. "Igor Matovic sworn in as Slovakia's prime minister".
15. Sirotnikova, Miroslava German. (5 August 2020). "Jan Kuciak: A Murder That Changed Slovakia". Balkan Insight.
16. (16 July 2020). "Prime Minister Matovič is a plagiarist too". [[The Slovak Spectator]].
17. (27 July 2020). "Aj škola si prezrela Matovičovu diplomovku. Verdikt - doslovne odpísaná".
18. (1 March 2021). "Another MP quits coalition after Sputnik landing".
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20. (22 April 2020). "President Zuzana Caputova most trusted politician in Slovakia".
21. (21 April 2021). "President Caputova most trusted politician in Slovakia, poll shows".
22. (1 April 2021). "Who will stay and who will be replaced in the new government?". The Slovak Spectator.
23. (7 February 2015). "Video: gor Matovič hlasoval v Trnave s manželkou a deťmi".