Marian Kotleba

Marian Kotleba (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈmariaŋ ˈkotleba]; born 7 April 1977) is a Slovak politician and leader of the far-right Kotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia political party. (Slovak: Kotleba – Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko). He has since 24 November 2013 served as the Governor of Banská Bystrica Region.

Born in Banska Bystrica in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kotleba attended the local Jozef Murgas High School before enrolling at the Athletic Gymnasium (Slovak: Športové Gymnázium Banská Bystrica) specialising in sports. After finishing in the gymnasium Kotleba he enrolled in the Matej Bel University receiving a Master's Degree in Pedagogics, later he once again enrolled in the Economics faculty at the same university and graduated with a master's degree in Economics.

Banner at the Banská Bystrica administration building put up by Kotleba, ‘Yankees go home! Stop NATO!’

Marian Kotleba holds views considered extremist, although he was never prosecuted for extremism (according to §140a of the Slovak criminal law). He is supportive of Jozef Tiso and the First Slovak Republic, and he is openly against Roma people, Slovak National Uprising, NATO, the United States and the European Union. According to Hospodárske noviny, his position on the Holocaust is unclear. The BBC and The Economist have described him as a neo-Nazi.

In 2003, Kotleba founded the far-right political party 'Slovak Togetherness' (Slovak: Slovenská Pospolitosť). In 2007 the Slovak interior ministry banned the party from running and campaigning in elections, however it still functioned as a civic organisation. In 2009 he ran for the post of Governor of the Banská Bystrica region and received 10% of the votes. In the 2013 local elections he ran again and this time received approximately 20% of the votes, thereby securing a run-off against favourite Vladimír Maňka. Kotleba won the run-off by receiving 55% of the votes.

Kotleba's win was described as a "shock" by political analysts, who attributed it to deep anti-Romani sentiments in the region. Observers originally had said that they saw almost no chance for Kotleba to succeed in the second round against Maňka, but nonetheless found his strong showing "disturbing".

Prior to the 2016 elections to the National Council, he renamed his party Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko (English: People's Party Our Slovakia) to Kotleba - Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko. Despite the polls suggesting the 1.5-3.5 % gain of votes, the party rocketed to the parliament with a gain of over 8% of the vote. Despite elements of Neo-Nazism, the post-electoral polls suggest that his success was a result of dissatisfaction with the running of Slovakia and was seen as a protest vote against the ruling Smer - Sociálna demokracia and the fractured right. It was also linked to the fall of the Christian Democratic Movement, as the Christian conservative party and the migrants crisis.