Rudolf Schuster (born 4 January 1934) is a Slovak politician who served as the second president of Slovakia from 1999 to 2004. He was elected on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated on 15 June. In the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he sought re-election, Schuster was defeated. He received only 7.4% of the vote, with three other candidates (more specifically Ivan Gaà ¡paroviÃÂ, VladimÃÂr MeÃÂiar, and Eduard Kukan) receiving more than that. He was succeeded by Ivan Gaà ¡paroviÃÂ.
Schuster was born in Koà ¡ice. From 1964 to 1990, he was a member of the Communist Party of Slovakia. Before becoming president, he was mayor of Koà ¡ice in 1983âÂÂ1986 and 1994âÂÂ1999 respectively. He was also the last Communist president of the Slovak National Council (1989âÂÂ1990), Ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Canada (1990âÂÂ1992) and a leader of the Party of Civic Understanding (SOP â Strana obÃÂianskeho porozumenia, 1998âÂÂ1999).
Schuster speaks German (including Mantak dialect), Slovak, Czech, Russian, English and Hungarian fluently.
Schuster's father's family is of Carpathian German origin, while his mother's family is of Hungarian origin. Rudolf Schuster was married in 1961 to Irena Trojáková (died 2008) and he has two children (son Peter and daughter Ingrid) and two granddaughters. In his private life, he is a sports fan, a traveller and a writer. He is also a camera fan.
In 1998, Schuster founded the centre-left Party of Civic Understanding. In 1999, he received honorary citizenship from Miskolc, as recognition of the good cooperation between the city and Koà ¡ice during his mayorship.
In 2004, Schuster sought re-election in the 2004 presidential election and received 7.4% of the votes.
Rudolf Schuster is a member of the Association of Slovak Writers. He has been the author of film scripts for various television films. His most famous works are detective novels and travelogues mainly about Brazil and Canada.