Vít Rakušan
Vít Rakušan (born 16 June 1978) is a Czech pedagogue and politician who has served as the leader of the Mayors and Independents (STAN) political party since 2019 and its 1st vice-chairman from 2016 to 2019. He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since October 2017; an elected representative of the Central Bohemia Region since 2012, and was the mayor of the City of Kolín from 2010 to 2019. In 2021, he assumed the posts of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Petr Fiala. Life Rakušan was born in Kolín. He majored in history and German studies at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice and school management at Charles University in Prague (earning a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree). Since 2000 he has run his own business, between 2000 and 2015 in the area of German language teaching. He teaches German language at Jiří Orten Grammar School /Gymnázium Jiřího Ortena/ in Kutná Hora. Vít Rakušan is married for the second time; in September 2015 Marie Auerová became his current wife. Their son Matěj was born in October 2017 and son Jonáš in April 2020. He has a daughter Agáta from his previous marriage. He lives in Kolín. His father is the former senator elected as a member of ČSSD, Jan Rakušan. Political work Since 2015 he has been a member of the STAN political party. He also holds the position of a member of the National Committee and a Vice-Chairman of the Regional Committee of the Central Bohemian Region in the party. At the 8th National Convention of STAN in Průhonice u Prahy in mid April 2016, he was elected the first vice-chairman of the party. He won 137 votes from 144 delegates (i.e., 95%). He entered politics when he was elected in the municipal government elections in 2010 as a non-partisan candidate of the entity “Změna pro Kolín” /Change for Kolín/ to be an elected representative of the City of Kolín (he was the leader of the list of candidates). Subsequently, in November 2010 he became the mayor of the City. In the elections of 2014, he successfully defended his position as an elected representative of the city, when he once again led the list of candidates as a non-partisan candidate of “Změna pro Kolín”, which triumphed in the elections, obtaining 63.95% of votes (i.e., winning 20 mandates of 27 available in total). In November 2014, he was elected mayor of the city for the second time. In the regional elections in 2012, he was elected as a non-partisan member of STAN as part of the entity “TOP 09” and “Starostové pro Středočeský kraj“ to the Regional Council of the Central Bohemia Region (originally, he was listed 11th on the list of candidates but he came in second due to preferential votes). He worked as a member of the Supervisory Committee. In 2016, he was ranked among the top 100 innovators of Central and Eastern Europe