Rudolf Schuster (born 4 January 1934) is a Slovak politician, who served as the second

president of Slovakia The president of the Slovak Republic () serves as the head of state of Slovakia and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The people directly elect the president for five years, for a maximum of two consecutive terms. The presidency is essent ...

from 1999 to 2004. He was elected on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated on 15 June. In the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he sought re-election, Schuster was defeated. He received only 7.4% of the vote, with three other candidates (more specifically Ivan Gašparovič, Vladimír Mečiar, and Eduard Kukan) receiving more than that. He was succeeded by Ivan Gašparovič.

Life and career

Schuster was born in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

. From 1964 to 1990, he was a member of the Communist Party of Slovakia. Before becoming president, he was Mayor ( Slovak: ''primátor'') of

in 1983–1986 and 1994–1999 respectively. He was also the last Communist president of the Slovak National Council (1989–1990), Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Canada (1990–1992) and a leader of the

Party of Civic Understanding The Party of Civic Understanding (, SOP) was a centre-left political party in Slovakia between 1998 and 2003. Between 1998 and 2002 the party was part of the coalition government led by Mikuláš Dzurinda, with the founder of the party, Rudolf Schu ...

(''SOP – Strana občianskeho porozumenia'', 1998–1999). Schuster speaks German (including Mantak dialect), Slovak,

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

, 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 was married in 1961 to Irena Trojáková (died 2008) and he has two children (son Peter and daughter Ingrid) and two granddaughters. In his private life, he is a sports fan, a traveller and a writer. He is also a camera fan. In 1998, Schuster founded the centre-left

. In 1999 he received honorary citizenship from

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

, as recognition of the good cooperation between the city and Košice during his mayorship. Rudolf Schuster - Donald H

In 2004, Schuster sought re-election in the 2004 presidential election and received 7.4% of the votes.

Writing

Rudolf Schuster is a member of the Association of Slovak Writers. He has been author of film scripts for various television films. His most famous works are detective novels and travelogues mainly about

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Bibliography

* ''Necestami Brazílie'' (1987) * ''Prípad „Puntičkár“'' (1987) * ''Nežiaduci dôkaz'' (1988) * ''Čierny notes'' (1989) – * ''Bol som pri tom'' (1989) * ''Rodné putá: J. Fabini'' (1994) – * ''So skalpelom a bez neho'' (1994) – * ''Stopy viedli k Indiánom'' (1995) – * ''Strieborný mercedes'' (1995) – * ''Ultimátum'' (1996) – * ''Hlavná'' (1997) – * ''Návrat do veľkej politiky'' (1998) – * ''Explózia'' (1999) – * ''Ako to bolo'' (2000) * ''Rozhovory s Milanom Čičom'' (2001) – * ''Muž s dvoma srdcami'' (2001) – * ''V tieni brazilských pralesov'' (2002) – * ''Farby Islandu'' (2009) – * ''V krajine ľadových medveďov'' (2010) – * ''Deň na južnom póle'' (2011) – * ''Kanada, od mora k moru / Canada, From Sea to Sea'' (2014) –

Honours and awards

National honours

Foreign honours

References

External links

President Rudolf Schuster‘s official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Rudolf 1934 births Living people Politicians from Košice Slovak writers Slovak communists Slovak Roman Catholics Presidents of Slovakia People of Hungarian-German descent Slovak people of German descent Grand Crosses with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil) Recipients of the Order of the Star of Romania Knights Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Communist Party of Czechoslovakia politicians Ambassadors of Czechoslovakia to Canada Collars of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Recipients of the Order of the White Lion Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1998–2002