Robert Fico

Robert Fico (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈrobert ˈfitso]; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovakia since 4 April 2012; previously he was Prime Minister from 4 July 2006 to 8 July 2010. He has been the leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) party since 1999. First elected to Parliament in 1992 (whilst within Czechoslovakia), he was later appointed to the Council of Europe. Following his party's victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, he formed the first Fico Cabinet.

While later in opposition, Fico again sat as a member of parliament, effectively as leader of the opposition. Following a motion of confidence against the Iveta Radičová cabinet, Fico was re-appointed as Prime Minister after leading SMER-SD to a landslide election victory in the 2012 parliamentary election, winning 83 seats and forming a government with an absolute majority in Parliament, the first such since 1989.

In 2013, Fico officially declared his candidacy for the 2014 presidential election, but he lost to Andrej Kiska in the second round of voting on 29 March 2014.