Milan Kučan

Milan Kučan (2018)

Milan Kučan (born January 14, 1941 in Križevci , Kingdom of Yugoslavia ) is a former Slovenian politician and statesman. From 1986 to 1990 he was chairman of the Communist Party of Slovenia . From 1991 to 2002 he was the first President of the Republic of Slovenia .

Milan Kučan was born in Križevci, a village in the Prekmurje region . At that time Slovenia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . At the age of 17 he joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia , in which he made a career while studying law at the University of Ljubljana . In 1964 he became chairman of the university's party committee. In 1978 he became the President of Parliament elected the Republic of Slovenia, in 1986 head of the Central Committee of the Slovenian Communist Party. In this function he began to campaign for the separation of party and state as well as for human rights and political pluralism . In April 1990 (after a constitutional reform) he was elected president of the republic by 58% of the Slovenian eligible voters in the runoff election.

In December 1990 the Slovenes spoke out in favor of the creation of an independent republic, which was proclaimed in June of the following year. After the short war of independence and international recognition, he was elected Slovenia's first president in 1992. When he was re-elected in 1997 , he received 56% of the vote. His second term of office - another was not possible under the constitution - ended in 2002. Janez Drnovšek became Kučan's successor in the presidency .

The person of Milan Kučan is controversial in Slovenia due to its communist past. He is a member of the United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD).

Web links

Commons : Milan Kučan  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• President of the Republic of Slovenia ( Memento of May 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (in English)