Ján Lunter

Ján Lunter (born 15 July 1951) is a Slovak entrepreneur, owner of a family food company^[3] and, following the November 2017 elections, governor of the Banská Bystrica Region.^[1][4]

Ján Lunter
Governor of Banská Bystrica Region
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 December 2017
Preceded by	Marian Kotleba
Personal details
Born	(1951-07-15) 15 July 1951 (age 74) Telgárt, Czechoslovakia
Political party	Independent[1]
Spouse	Etela[2]
Children	Ján Jakub Juraj Ondrej Anna Mária[2]
Alma mater	School of Electrical Engineering at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava[3]

Biography

Lunter studied Cybernetics at the School of Electrical Engineering at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.^[3] Following the gentle revolution, he started a firm producing computer software and hardware, called Proces, and later started a food processing company called Alfa-Bio. In 2016 Alfa-Bio produced 160 tons of tofu and 100 tons of spreads.^[2]

Candidacy

Lunter announced plans to run for governor of the Banská Bystrica Region in January^[5] and officially entered the race in April 2017.^[6] By the end of August, Lunter had gained the support of Peter Pellegrini of Direction - Social Democracy,^[7] and later won support from Most–Híd and Progressive Slovakia.^[8] As candidates from other parties withdrew, many gave support to Lunter, including Martin Klus, who withdrew on 3 October;^[9] and Viliam Baňák, who withdrew on 4 October.^[10] By November, Lunter had support of all parties excluding the far-right Kotleba - People's Party Our Slovakia (the party of incumbent governor Marian Kotleba).^[1]