Jan Grolich (born 11 June 1984) is a Czech

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, lawyer and former stand-up comedian. He has served as representative of the municipality of Velatice and chairman of

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region (; , ; ), or just South Moravia, is an Regions of the Czech Republic, administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia. The region's capital is Brno, th ...

, respectively since 2010 and 2020.

Early life

Grolich was born in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

on 11 June 1984. He completed his law practice in Brno, passing the bar exams already during his mayoralty. Grolich also used to be a stand-up comedian.

Political career

2010s

In the 2010 Czech municipal elections, Grolich was elected as local candidate, representing the municipality of Velatice for

KDU-ČSL KDU-ČSL (In Czech language, Czech, the initials of the Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party; ), often shortened to ("the populars"), is a Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Czec ...

. He later became mayor, having defended the mandate of representative in the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and 2018 municipal elections. In the 2022 municipal elections, Grolich ran for council in Velatice from the second-place candidate and eventually defended the mandate of village representative. In the

2016 Czech regional elections Elections to regional councils in the Czech Republic in 13 regions (except Prague) were held on 7 and 8 October 2016. In one third of constituencies, the elections were combined with Czech Senate elections. Also, several municipal referendums ...

, Grolich was elected as a representative of the South Moravian Region for the KDU-ČSL. In the 2020 regional elections, he was leader of the KDU-ČSL in the South Moravian Region and defended the mandate of the regional representative. In the

2017 Czech parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 20 and 21 October 2017. All 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Chamber of Deputies were elected and Andrej Babiš of ANO, also the leader of the Andrej Babiš' ...

, Grolich ran in the last place of the KDU-ČSL candidate in the South Moravian Region, but was unsuccessful.

2020s

In the

2020 Czech regional elections Elections to regional councils in the Czech Republic in 13 regions (except Prague) were held on 2–3 October 2020. Background ANO 2011 won the previous election. Czech Social Democratic Party saw heavy losses and came second. 2017 Czech legisla ...

, Grolich was the leader of the KDU-ČSL candidate in the South Moravian Region. He was the third most circled politician in the country, ahead of him only Martin Kupka (ODS) and

Vít Rakušan Vít Rakušan (born 16 June 1978) is a Czech pedagogue and politician who has served as the leader of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) political party since 2019 and its 1st vice-chairman from 2016 to 2019. He has been a member of the Chamber ...

(STAN). After the elections, within the post-election coalition of KDU-ČSL,

Czech Pirate Party The Czech Pirate Party ( ) often known simply as the Pirates (''Piráti'' ) is a Liberalism, liberal Progressivism, progressive List of political parties in the Czech Republic, political party in the Czech Republic, founded in 2009. The party was ...

and ODS for South Moravia, Grolich became the governor of the South Moravian Region on 11 November 2020 and subsequently resigned from the post of mayor of Velatice. In February 2024, he became the leader of the candidate list of the Spolu coalition for the regional elections in 2024 in the South Moravian Region.

Personal life

Grolich lives in Velatice and claims to be a Moravian. Since 2010, he has been married to Magdalena Grolichová.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grolich, Jan 1984 births Living people Politicians from Brno 21st-century Czech politicians KDU-ČSL politicians