on 18 january 1990, he left the ksč to join the public against violence (vpn) party, the slovak counterpart of havel's civic forum. he thus became the first prime minister since before world war ii who was not a communist or a fellow traveler. the only non-communist to hold the premiership before the start of communist rule, social democrat zdeněk fierlinger, was openly pro-communist (and later led his party into a merger with the communists). he helped lead the havel movement to a sweeping victory in the 1990 elections—the first free elections held in the country in 44 years. when vpn dissolved in april 1991, čalfa followed most of the party into the civic democratic union (odu-vpn), of which he became a leading member.