Milan Kučan: Difference between revisions

Milan Kučan (born 14 January 1941) is a Slovene politician, statesman. He was leader of the League of Communists and the first President of Slovenia.

Kučan was born in Križevci, a village in Prekmurje, northeastern Slovenia (at that time Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

He became leader of the League of Communists of Slovenia in 1986. He started supporting the separation of the Communist Party from the state, as well as political pluralism, after 1989. In 1990 he was elected president of the presidency of Slovenia, within the old Yugoslav federation under the League of Communists. He opposed Jože Pučnik, who had Slovenian independence on his agenda.

Later in 1990 he started supporting independence, too. He is known for his policy of peaceful negotiation, which led to the Brioni Agreement. After independence in 1991, he was popularly elected as the President of Slovenia as an independent candidate with the support of former League of Communists. He won another five year term in 1997, running as an independent and winning a majority in the first round, in a field of seven candidates.

He stood down in 2002. During his time as president, he was not a member of any political party. He was succeeded as President by Janez Drnovšek.

Kučan is married to Štefka Kučan.