Marián Čalfa

Who is Marián Čalfa?

Marián Čalfa was a Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia during and after the Velvet Revolution, as well as acting President for 19 days, and was a key facilitator of smooth power transfer from the Communists to a new democratic representation.

An ethnic Slovak, he was a member of KSČ, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. From 1985, he worked as the head of a legislative department of the Czechoslovak federal government. In April 1988, he became a minister - the chairman of the legislative committee. During the Velvet Revolution, on 10 December 1989, he was appointed Prime Minister in place of discredited Ladislav Adamec, at the head of the first cabinet in 41 years that was not dominated by the KSČ. As President Gustáv Husák resigned from his office shortly after swearing in the government, Čalfa also took on most presidential duties until the election of Václav Havel on 29 December.

On 18 January 1990, he left the KSČ to join the Public Against Violence party and, when it dissolved in April 1991, became a leading member of the Civic Democratic Union.