Editing Vladimír Mečiar (section)

=== Second term ===
[[File:Vladimír_Mečiar_and_Jacques_Delors.png|thumb|Mečiar meeting with [[Jacques Delors]], president of the [[European Commission]] (1993)]]
In 1991 and 1992, there were frequent, but fruitless, negotiations between the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic concerning the future relations between the two constituent republics of Czechoslovakia.  The winners of the June 1992 elections in Czechoslovakia and new prime ministers were the [[Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic)|Civic Democratic Party]] led by [[Václav Klaus]] in the Czech Republic and the HZDS led by Vladimír Mečiar in Slovakia. Before and shortly after this election, the HZDS supported the creation of a looser federation—a confederation—between the two republics.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://domov.sme.sk/c/768478/chronologia-rozdelenia-ceskej-a-slovenskej-federativnej-republiky-3-cast.html|title=Chronológia rozdelenia Českej a Slovenskej Federatívnej Republiky (3. časť)|publisher=Petit Press a.s.|website=domov.sme.sk|access-date=2018-05-26|language=sk}}</ref> However, its Czech counterpart wanted an even more centralized Czechoslovakia than was the case in 1992 or two separate countries.{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}} Since these two concepts were irreconcilable, Mečiar and Klaus agreed (after intense negotiations, but without having consulted the population in a referendum) on 23 July in [[Bratislava]] to dissolve Czechoslovakia and to create two independent states. As a result, Mečiar and Klaus became the prime ministers of two independent states on 1 January 1993. Mečiar also opposed the free-market [[Shock therapy (economics)|shock therapy]] proposed by Prague and Klaus' party to all of Czechoslovakia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/01/world/czechoslovakia-breaks-in-two-to-wide-regret.html?pagewanted=all|title=Czechoslovakia Breaks in Two, To Wide Regret|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=1 January 1993}}</ref>

After eight members of the parliament left the HZDS in March 1993, Mečiar lost his parliamentary majority. At the same time Mečiar's HZDS also lost the support of the president, [[Michal Kováč]], who was originally nominated by the HZDS. However, it was only in March 1994 that he was unseated as prime minister by the parliament ([[National Council of the Slovak Republic]]) and the opposition parties created a new government under [[Jozef Moravčík]]'s lead. However, after the elections held at the turn of September and October 1994, in which his HZDS won 35% of the votes, he became prime minister again — in a coalition with the far-right [[Slovak National Party]] headed by the controversial [[Ján Slota]], and the radical-left [[Združenie robotníkov Slovenska]] headed by the colourful [[Ján Ľupták]], a mason.