History of The Office
The office was established by the constitution of Slovakia on 1 January 1993 when Slovakia permanently split from Czechoslovakia and became independent. However, the office was vacant until 2 March 1993 when the first president Michal Kováč was elected by the National Council of Slovak Republic. However, in 1998 due to then political situation the National Council was unable to elect new president for another term. The result was that for half a year the position became vacant. The duties and powers of the office were devolved upon the then prime minister and speaker of the National Council. In order to come to a solution the constitution was changed in so that the president would be elected in the national presidential election. Presidential elections have been held in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
The current president is Ivan Gašparovič who took office on 15 June 2004.
Read more about this topic: President Of Slovakia
Famous quotes containing the words history of the, history of, history and/or office:
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“So in accepting the leading of the sentiments, it is not what we believe concerning the immortality of the soul, or the like, but the universal impulse to believe, that is the material circumstance, and is the principal fact in this history of the globe.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)