Direction – Social Democracy

Direction – Social Democracy Smer – sociálna demokracia
Leader	Robert Fico
Founded	1999
Headquarters	Bratislava
Youth wing	Young Social Democrats
Ideology	Social democracy, Left-wing nationalism, Left-wing populism
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
European Parliament Group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Official colours	Red, Green
National Council	62 / 150
European Parliament	5 / 13
Website
http://www.strana-smer.sk
Politics of Slovakia Political parties Elections

The party Direction – Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer – sociálna demokracia), often abbreviated to Smer, is a centre-left political party in Slovakia. It is led by Robert Fico, who was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2010. It is the largest party in the National Council, with 62 seats.^{[citation needed]}

History

Originally named Direction, the party emerged as a breakaway from the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) in 1999. Under Fico, at the time one of the most popular politicians in the country, it quickly surpassed the SDĽ. In 2003 it changed its formal name to Direction (Third Way) (Slovak: Smer (tretia cesta)). In 2005, it absorbed SDĽ and several other centre-left parties and adopted its current name. Following the party's victory in 2006, Smer entered into a coalition with the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS). For this, it was suspended from membership of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The PES Chairman, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, explained in The Slovak Spectator that "Most of our members stood solidly behind our values, according to which forming a coalition with the extreme right is unacceptable." Smer was readmitted in 2008.

Foundation

The party arose as a breakaway from the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ) in 1999 (Robert Fico being the most popular SDĽ member at that time) and quickly became one of the most popular parties in Slovakia, while the popularity of the SDĽ, which was the successor of the original Communist Party of Slovakia and was a government party from 1998 to 2002, was steadily decreasing.

As of 2004, it was the third largest party in the National Council of the Slovak Republic, with 25 out of 150 seats. As of early 2005, it was in the first place among all Slovak political parties in opinion polls with 30% support.

As from 1 January 2005, Smer merged with the small social-democratic parties:

• Party of the Democratic Left (see above)
• Social Democratic Alternative (Sociálnodemokratická alternatíva); a small modern-style social-democratic party that split from the SDĽ somewhat later than Smer did, and
• Social Democratic Party of Slovakia (Sociálnodemokratická strana Slovenska); founded in 1990, the party became known under the leadership of Alexander Dubček.

The resulting entity was renamed Smer – Social Democracy.

Government

In the parliamentary election of 17 June 2006, the party won 29.1% of the popular vote and 50 out of 150 seats. Following the election, Smer formed a coalition government with the People's Party – Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) and Slovak National Party (SNS), an "extremist" nationalist party. Smer was then temporarily suspended from membership in the Party of European Socialists (PES) on 12 October 2006 because the PES considers SNS a "political party which incites or attempts to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred." but was readmitted on 14 February 2008.

Although the party won the most votes in the 2010 parliamentary election, with a lead of 20% over second-placed SDKÚ, they were not able to form a government, due to the losses of their coalition partners. Their result, 34.8%, won 62 seats in the National Council for them, but the HZDS failed to cross the 5% threshold, losing all their seats, and the Slovak National Party was reduced to nine seats. As a result, the four opposition centre-right parties – SDKÚ, SaS, KDH and Most–Híd – were able to form a new government.

Current Representatives

Smer provided the following members of the government (2006–2010):

• Robert Fico (prime minister)
• Miroslav Lajčák (minister of foreign affairs)
• Dušan Čaplovič (deputy prime minister)
• Robert Kaliňák (deputy prime minister and minister of the interior)
• Ľubomír Jahnátek (minister of the economy)
• Ján Počiatek (minister of finance)
• Marek Maďarič (minister of culture)
• Viera Tomanová (minister of labour, social affairs and family)
• Jaroslav Baška (minister of defence, since 30. January 2008, when he changed František Kašický)
• Richard Raši (minister of health, since 3. June 2008 when he changed Ivan Valentovič)
• Ľubomír Vážny (minister of transportation, posts and communication)

See also

• Politics of Slovakia
• List of political parties in Slovakia

External links

• (Slovak) Official party website
• (Slovak) Entry in Slovak Interior Ministry's Register of Parties