Profile of Igor Matovic

Bratislava, March 1 (TASR) - TASR is publishing a profile of Igor Matovic, 46, the chairman of the Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party, which won Saturday's general election in Slovakia. Igor MATOVIC Igor Matovic was born in Trnava on May 11, 1973. In 1998, he graduated from the Faculty of Management at Comenius University in Bratislava. In 2002, he founded the Trnava-based regionPRESS publishing house, which publishes regional weeklies. He transferred the company to his wife Pavlina in 2007. Matovic entered politics in 2010 when he became an MP. He made it into Parliament on Freedom and Solidarity's (SaS) slate, on which featured with three other members of civil association Ordinary People. Thanks to preferential votes, he moved up from 150th place to fourth spot on the slate. In 2011, he was expelled from the SaS caucus when he voted in favour of a Smer-SD proposal. In the 2012 early election Matovic decided to run with his own political movement called Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO). The party garnered 8.55 percent of the vote in the March parliamentary election. Igor Matovic again ran from 150th place. He received 150,242 preferential votes, which earned him first place. In the 2016 election, Matovic teamed up with NOVA, led by Daniel Lipsic. Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO-NOVA) gained 11.02 percent of the votes. In the current election on February 29, 2020, Igor Matovic fought for support within the OLaNO-NOVA-Christian Union (KU)-Change from Below grouping. am/df