Slovenian Democratic Party

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Flag of Slovenia Slovenian political party
Slovenska demokratska stranka
Slovenian Democratic Party
Leader Janez Janša
Founded 1989
Headquarters Ljubljana
Colours blue and yellow
Political Ideology Conservatism,
Liberal Conservatism,
Centre-right
European Affiliation European People's Party
European Parliament Group EPP-ED
Website SDS Website
See also Political parties

Elections

The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS — Slovenian: Slovenska demokratska stranka), previously the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (Slovenian: Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije) is a Slovenian center-right liberal conservative party. It is led by Prime Minister Janez Janša.

Currently, the SDS is the largest political group represented in the Slovenian Parliament (with 29 MPs or 32,2% of the total). At the European election it got 17.7% which yielded 2 seats in the European parliament out of a total 7 from Slovenia. It is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and its MEPs sit in the EPP-ED Group.

Contents

[edit] History

The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) has developed from the fusion of two dinstict democratic political traditions, since it is the legal successor of both of the Social-Democratic Union of Slovenia and the Slovenian Democratic Union - two of the most influential parties of the former DEMOS coalition which, after the defeat of the communist regime in the 1990 elections, carried out the democratisation of Slovenia and led the political process that brought the secession of Slovenia from Yugoslavia and its international recognition as an independent country.

The Slovenian Democratic Union was founded in January, and the Social-Democratic Union in February 1989, as opposition movements to the Communist Party of Slovenia which had ruled the Socialist Republic of Slovenia since 1945. From the very beginning, both parties (unions) voiced their support for the transition to a democratic and pluralistic political order, a market economy, the establishment of the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental political freedoms, respect for minority rights, and the inclusion of Slovenia in the Euro - Atlantic integrations (the European Union and NATO). Both parties have, in their programs, opposed Communism and favoured Slovenian independence. The Slovenian functioned as a broad but somehow fragmented coalition of several groups with different Liberal, Social-Liberal and Civic Nationalist agendas. The Social-Democratic Union of Slovenia, on the other hand, had emerged from an independent, anti-Communist trade union movement in the late 1980s. Under the leadership of Jože Pučnik, a famous former dissident who had been forced to emigrate to Germany in the 1960s, it gradually developed into a moderate non-Marxist Social-Democratic party, which cpmbined the plea for a market economy with the support of a Welfare State on a German, Austrian or Scandinavian model.

In 1992, the Slovenian Democratic Union split into two parties, one with a Social-Liberal and the other with a more conservative and Nationalist agenda. A third group, dissatisfied with both options, joined Jože Pučnik's Social-Democratic Party (SDSS, later simplified to SDS). The party suffered a clear defeat in the 1992 elections, barely securing its entry in the Parliament. Nevertheless, it formed a coalition with the ruling Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and entered Janez Drnovšek's cabinets muffin.

In May 1993, Janez Janša, former member of the Slovenian Democratic Union and minister of defence during the Slovenian War of Independence, was elected president of the Party with the support of Jože Pučnik who resigned and became the honorary president of the party (the function he held until his death in January 2003). Janša remained the only Social-Democratic minister in the coalition government until March 1994, when he was dismissed by Prime Minister Janez Drnovšek following allegations that he allowed the military to interfere in civilian justice. He was subsequently cleared following an inquiry. This provoked a government crisis in which the SDS left the coalition and became the strongest opponent of Drnovšek's policies. It stayed in opposition for the next 10 years (except for a short period in 2000 when it entered a short-lived centre-right government led by Andrej Bajuk), slowly gaining in popularity and shifting to socially more conservative and economically more liberal positions. In the year 2000, it decided to apply for membership in the European People's Party and in 2003 it changed its name from the previous Social Democratic Party of Slovenia to Slovenian Democratic Party (while maintaining the same abbreviation - SDS). In a new program, adopted the same year, the SDS defined itself as a Centrist party, a definition that hasn't been changed since. It adopted a fully liberal program in economic policy, but maintained a basically centrist policy in social issues, combining Christian Democratic, Social Democratic and liberal conservative points of view. It reiterated its unconditional support of the European Union and a strongly emphasized atlantist policy, which had been in the programme of the party since its founding.

In 2004, it clearly won the elections and formed a coalition with the Christian democratic New Slovenia party, the conservative Slovenian People's Party, and the single-issue DeSUS party.

[edit] Recent developments

At the last legislative elections, 3 October 2004, the party won 29.1% of the popular vote and 29 out of 88 seats. It was given a six-point advance over the previously governing Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (Slovenian: Liberalna Demokracija Slovenije); as of 2005 the SDS leads a governing coalition consisting of four parties.

The SDS-led government introduced reform in its fiscal policy, passed several pro-business measures, initiated the regionalization of the country by giving more power to local governments, and framing a new division of the country into provinces. The Government also introduced measures to curtail the powers of the secret service; these measures have been strongly attacked by the opposition and segments of the press as an attempt to discredit the secret intelligence service and cast a negative shadow on the policies of previous governments.

The SDS-led Government has also been criticised for introducing economically non-sustainable changes in the pension system in order to please its coalition party, the Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia.

Recently, the SDS has been accused of supporting the agenda advanced by the Roman Catholic Church; nevertheless, the Church maintained a critical attitude towards some of the party's positions (the SDS-led Government has assumed a favourable attitude towards gambling tourism, stem cell research and passed a law recognizing same-sex civil unions, all things opposed by the Roman Catholic Church).

The centre-left opposition has laso accused the SDS in general (and the Prime Minister Janez Janša in particular) of meddling with the independent press. The SDS, on the other side, rejected such accusations claiming that the media have been controlled by the left-wing political groups since the independence of the country and that they have repetedly tried to discreditate the Prime Minister.

[edit] Organization and political affiliation

The Slovenian Democratic Party is subdivided into several organizations that cover specific segments; one of them is the Slovenian Democratic Youth (SDY), which is currently led by Gregor Horvatič.

The Party is also affiliated with the major liberal-conservative think tank in Slovenia, the Jože Pučnik Institute. It is also close to the civic platform Rally for the Republic (Slovenian: Zbor za republiko).


Parliamentary representation:

[edit] Prominent members

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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