Janez Podobnik, born on 17 September 1959, comes from Cerkno. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ljubljana in 1984, he first spent eight years as a general physician in the Idrija and Cerkno region.

He became mayor of the municipality of Idrija in 1990, to which today's municipality of Cerkno then belonged, and after the creation of the new municipalities, he was mayor of Cerkno from 1994 to 1998. He was also a municipal councillor from 1990 onwards.

He was first elected a member of the National Assembly in 1992, and then again in 1996 and in 2000. In November 1996 he was elected president of the National Assembly. At the parliamentary elections in 2000, he also became leader of the deputy group of the Slovenian People's Party, vice-president of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, a member of the Constitutional Commission, member of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Science and Sport, a member of the Standing Orders Commission and of the Commission for Relations with Slovenes across the Border and throughout the World.

During the last parliamentary term, as parliamentary representative of the Slovene People's Party, he was an observer and then delegate to the European Parliament, where he played an active part on the Committee for Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism. He also took part in the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as a member of the delegation of the National Assembly of the RS.

Janez Podobnik lives in Cerkno with his wife Janja and son Rok, enjoys skiing in winter, mountain walking in summer and autumn, and also devotes his spare time to reading books.