Democratic Party (Slovakia)

Democratic Party Demokratická strana
Emblem of the Democratic Party (1944-1948)
Abbreviation	DS
Founded	September 1944 December 1989 (refoundation)
Dissolved	1948, 2006
Merged into	Party of Slovak Revival (1948)
Succeeded by	SDKÚ-DS (2006)
Headquarters	Bratislava, Slovakia
Ideology	Conservatism Agrarianism
Political position	Centre-right
Colours	Blue
Politics of Slovakia Political parties Elections Politics of Czechoslovakia Political parties Elections

Slovakia
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Slovakia
Constitution Constitutional Court 1939 constitution
Executive President Andrej Kiska Government Prime Minister: Peter Pellegrini
Legislature National Council Speaker: Andrej Danko
Recent elections Parliamentary 2010 2012 2016 next Presidential 2004 2009 2014 2019 European 2004 2009 2014
Political parties Direction – Social Democracy (Smer) Democratic and Christian Union – DP (SDKÚ) Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) Most–Híd National Party (SNS) Hungarian Coalition (SMK–MKP) People's Party – MDS (HZDS)
Administrative divisions Regions Districts Municipalities
Foreign relations Relations with Hungary
Other countries Atlas

The Democratic Party (Slovak: Demokratická strana) was the name of two political parties in Slovakia, one active between 1944 and 1948, and the other between 1989 and 2006.

1940s

The historical Democratic Party arose in 1944 during the Slovak National Uprising as a party for all non-Communist participants (i.e. the counterpart of the Communist Party of Slovakia). In the 1946 elections in Czechoslovakia, the party won as much as 62% of votes in Slovakia, but was emasculated in 1947-1948 by the Communists, who had a majority in the central government in Prague (because as opposed to Slovakia, it was the Communists who won the 1946 elections in the Czech lands). Following the Communist takeover, the party was disbanded, while the fellow travellers in the party's ranks reorganized as the Party of Slovak Revival (Strana slovenskej obrody) within the see National Front (Czechoslovakia).

1990s and 2000s

In December 1989, i.e. at the end of the Velvet Revolution, a new Democratic Party was created by transformation of the Party of Slovak Revival. When it was founded, it saw itself a continuation of the historical Democratic Party.

It won 7 seats out of 150 in the Slovak parliament (Slovak National Council) and no seats in the federal parliament in 1990, but no seats in any parliament in 1992.

In 1994, the party was "recreated" by a merge with the parties:

• Občiansko-demokratická únia (ODÚ, Civic Democratic Union, i.e. the remnants of the former Public Against Violence party)
• Občianska demokratická strana Slovenska (Civic Democratic Party of Slovakia)
• Demokrati 92 (Democrats 92)
• Hnutie česko-slovenského porozumenia (Movement of Czech-Slovak comprehension)
• Zelená liga (The Green League)

The new chairman of the party was P. Hagyari, and the vice-chairman was Ivan Mikloš, the finance minister of Slovakia in 2010 - 2012.

In the 1994 parliamentary election, the party run for parliamentary seats together with the Strana podnikateľov a živnostníkov (Party of Entrepreneurs and businessmen), but again won no seats. Hagyari was replaced by Ján Langoš, the former minister of the interior of Czechoslovakia, in 1995.

In the 1998 election, the party run for parliamentary seats within the coalition (later party) Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK), so that many candidates of the Democratic Party got into the parliament as candidates of the SDK. In the course of the subsequent dissolution of the Slovak Democratic Coalition in 2001, some members left the Democratic Party (Ivan Mikloš, for example, became a chairman of the newly founded Slovak Democratic and Christian Union), and František Šebej became the new chairman for short time and was quickly replaced by Ľudovít Kaník.

In the 2002 election, the party run for parliamentary seats together with the parties Civic Conservative Party (OKS, led by Ján Langoš) and Liberal-Democratic Union (LDÚ, led by Ján Budaj), both of which arose in the course of the dissolution of the SDK. Shortly before the election however the party withdraw its candidature and recommended its voters to vote for the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ) of Mikuláš Dzurinda. This was due to an agreement with the SDKÚ, according to which Ľudovít Kaník, the chairman of the Democratic Party, received one seat in the new 2002 government - the seat of the minister of social affairs and family. After a scandal, however, Kaník left the government in October 2005 and talks about a merge of the Democratic Party with the SDKÚ were announced.

The extraordinary party congress held on December 17, 2005 approved that the party be merged with the SDKÚ (whose name will change to SDKÚ-DS). The merger was approved by a SDKÚ congress held on January 21, 2006.

Election results

National Council

Year	Leader	Vote	Vote %	Seats	Place	Government
1990	Ján Holčík	148,567	4.40	7 / 150	6th	Yes
1992[1]	Ján Holčík	102,058	3.91	0 / 150	8th	extra-parliamentary
1994	Anton Ďuriš	98,555	3.4	0 / 150	8th	extra-parliamentary
1998[2]	Mikuláš Dzurinda	884,497	26.33	42 / 150	2th	Yes
2002	Ľudovít Kaník	Withdrew	0.0	0 / 150	Did not run	Did not run

References