The first government of independent Slovakia was formed by the emerging hegemon of the time, Vladimír Mečiar. It was his second government (the first was under the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and was in office from 27 June 1990 to 22 April 1991) and lasted from 24 June 1992 to 15 March 1994. The corrupt and autocratic tendencies of Mečiar’s HZDS policy led to a backlash from the democratic spectrum, which, although weakening, still had a certain number of deputies and also legitimacy in the eyes of the public as the successor of the Public Against Violence.
The most significant resistance was shown by President Michal Kováč, who delivered a report on the state of the Slovak Republic in Parliament to the boos and whistles of Mečiar’s supporters, in which he clearly named what a dark figure the prime minister is. In response to the report, eight members of the HZDS left and formed a club of independent deputies. Thanks to their votes, a vote of no confidence in the government was then passed.
The provisional government was then led by one of the rebellious HZDS MPs, Jozef Moravčík. He was Prime Minister from 16 March to 13 December 1994. However, the early elections that followed showed that Slovak society was not hampered by autocratic tendencies and corruption, and Vladimir Mečiar won again.
On 31 August 1995, he took revenge on President Michal Kováč in the crudest of ways – by kidnapping and forcibly taking his son to Hainburg, Austria. The whole operation was carried out by the Slovak Information Service under the direction of Mečiar’s right-hand man Ivan Lexa. The action was linked to a fabricated case concerning the Technopol case. On the basis of fabricated statements of other accused, an international arrest warrant was issued for Kovac Jr. After the abduction, during which the President’s son was drugged, a member of the secret service notified the Austrian police where this internationally wanted person could be found. The aim was to discredit the President and force him to resign. However, this plan did not work for Mečiar. On the contrary, the public gradually became aware of abuses of the secret services or of government officials collaborating with organised crime.
