During his time in office, he was criticized for his autocratic style of governance and connections to organized crime, which became known as Mečiarizmus ("Mečiarism").

In late 1989, during the fast-paced anti-Communist Velvet Revolution, he joined the new political party, Public Against Violence (Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN), which was the Slovak counterpart to the better-known Czech Civic Forum.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

During the following period, he was constantly criticized by his opponents and Western countries for an autocratic style of administration, lack of respect for democracy, misuse of state media for propaganda, corruption and the shady privatization of national companies that occurred during his rule.

Privatization during the 1990s in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic was harmed by widespread unlawful asset stripping (also described by the journalistic term of tunnelling).

He was also blamed for having engaged the Slovak secret service (SIS) in the abduction of the President's son Michal Kováč, Jr. — wanted on a warrant for a financial crime in Germany — to Hainburg, Austria, in August 1995, but his guilt has not been proven.

[7] However, after Kovač's term expired in March 1998 the Slovak parliament was unable to elect a successor, so Mečiar also temporarily assumed the role of acting president.

His HZDS colleague Augustín Marián Húska said: "The NATO-War against Yugoslavia in 1999 was also a signal to us, to not pursue any vision of political independence anymore.

[9][10] Mečiar was heavily favored to win the 2002 election, but it was thought that if he became prime minister again, it would end any chance of Slovakia getting into the EU.

In the 2004 presidential election, Mečiar tried to become Slovak president again, but was defeated in the second round by his former, long-standing ally Ivan Gašparovič.