Simon Maljevac | |
---|---|
Minister of Solidarity-Based Future | |
Assumed office 24 January 2023 | |
Prime Minister | Robert Golob |
Personal details | |
Born | Postojna, Yugoslavia | 26 February 1981
Political party | The Left |
Alma mater | University of Ljubljana |
Simon Maljevac (born 26 February 1981) is a Slovenian LGBT rights activist, politician and current Minister of Solidarity-Based Future of Slovenia. He was the general-secretary of The Left from 2018 to 2022
Maljevac was born 26 February 1981 in Postojna.[1][2] He has a degree in sociology from the University of Ljubljana (2012).[1] Maljevac is homosexual.[3][4]
Maljevac worked for communications engineering agency Directa and Legebitra, a LGBT NGO.[1] During his tenure as head of Legebitra from 2007 to 2017 the organisation became the largest LGBT group in Slovenia.[1][5] He was the Slovenian representative in the EU Network group of ILGA-Europe in 2006 and president of IGLYO from 2007 to 2009.[1][6] He and Nika Kovač founded the Inštitut 8. marec in 2016.[3][4] He was head of the monitoring, awareness-raising and prevention department at the Advocate of the Principle of Equality (Zagovornik načela enakosti) from 2017 to 2018.[1] He has also worked with the Ministry of Health, The Peace Institute, and the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities on several projects.[1] Maljevac was also editor-in-chief of the Narobe magazine.[1][3] He has also been an academic and co-authored several scientific papers.[1]
Maljevac was one of the leading members of the "Čas je ZA" group which campaigned for a yes vote during the unsuccessful 2015 Slovenian same-sex marriage referendum.[3][7] After the referendum he joined The Left as he claimed that it was the only party that fully supported amending the Family Code.[3][4] He was the general-secretary of The Left from 2018 to 2022.[1][8] At the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election Maljevac was a The Left candidate in Kranj but was not elected.[9] At the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election he was a The Left candidate in Celje but was again not elected.[10]
Following the 2022 Slovenian parliamentary election The Left became a junior partner in the government of Prime Minister Robert Golob. Maljevac was a candidate to be Minister of Labor, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities but the post was instead given to Luka Mesec.[6][11] It had been intended that Mesec would head the newly created Ministry for a Solidary Future but this was abandoned after the far-right Slovenian Democratic Party threatened to submit the creation of the new ministry to a national referendum.[12] Maljevac was instead appointed State Secretary with responsibility for equal opportunities, family, disabled persons, older people and deinstitutionalisation at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.[1][13] In January 2023 he was promoted to Minister of Solidarity-Based Future of Slovenia.[14][15]
Maljevac lives with his partner, academic Roman Kuhar, in Šenčur.[3][4]
Election | Constituency | Electoral District | Party | Votes | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 parliamentary[9] | Kranj | Kranj 2 | The Left | 1,141 | Not elected | |
2022 parliamentary[10] | Celje | Celje 2 | The Left | 814 | Not elected |