Slovenian Democratic Party
Slovenian Democratic Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Janez Janša |
| Founded | 16 February 1989 |
| Headquarters | Ljubljana |
| Ideology | Conservatism, Liberal conservatism, Anti-communism, Christian democracy, Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International, International Democrat Union |
| Colours | Yellow and blue |
| National Assembly | 27 / 90
|
| European Parliament | 3 / 8
|
| Website | |
| http://www.sds.si | |
The Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovene: Slovenska demokratska stranka, acronym SDS), known until 2003 as the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia ([Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) is a Slovenian centre-right liberal conservative and Christian democratic party. It is led by Janez Janša, former Prime Minister of Slovenia, and is currently the main opposition party in Slovenia.
The SDS is one of the two largest parties in Slovenia, along with centre-left rivals, the Social Democrats. It is the second-largest party in the National Assembly, with 28 MPs (31% of the total). In the 2009 European Parliament election, it obtained 26.7% of the votes, which yielded three seats out of eight from Slovenia. The SDS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and its MEPs sit in the EPP Group.
History
Origins
The Slovenian Democratic Party has developed from the fusion of two distinct democratic political traditions, being 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 DEMOS coalition which defeated the former Communist Party of Slovenia in the first free elections of April 1990 and carried out the democratization of Slovenia and its secession from Yugoslavia.
The Slovenian Democratic Union was founded in January 1989 and the Social-Democratic Union in February of the same year, as opposition movements to the Communist Party of Slovenia which had ruled the Slovenia since 1945. From the very beginning, both parties 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 Democratic Union 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. Its first president was the trade union leader France Tomšič, who in December 1987 organized the first successful large-scale workers strike in Communist Slovenia, following the example of Lech Wałęsa's Solidarity movement in Poland. He however resigned soon after the founding of the party, endorsing the leadership of Jože Pučnik, a former dissident who had been forced to emigrate to Germany in the 1960s. Under Pučnik's leadership, The Social Democratic Union of Slovenia gradually developed into a moderate non-Marxist social-democratic party, which combined the plea for a market economy with the support of a welfare state on a German, Austrian and Scandinavian model.
In 1992, the Slovenian Democratic Union split into two parties: the social liberal wing established the Democratic Party, while the conservative faction founded the National Democratic Party. A third group, dissatisfied with both options, joined Jože Pučnik's Social-Democratic Party (SDSS, later simplified to SDS). Nevertheless, Pučnik's party suffered a clear defeat in the 1992 elections, barely securing its entry in the Parliament. Nevertheless, it formed a coalition with the winning Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and entered Janez Drnovšek's cabinet.
The conservative turn
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 Drnovšek's 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 1995, the National Democrats joined the party, which thus became one of the legal successors of the Slovenian Democratic Union.
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 acronym, 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.
In power
At the Slovenian election in 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 ([Liberalna Demokracija Slovenije] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)); as of 2008 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 regionalisation 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 Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency. 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.
While in government, 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 also 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 repeatedly tried to discredit the Prime Minister.
In opposition again
At the Slovenian election in 2008, the party gained in popular support, but narrowly lost against the Social democrats, until then the main opposition party. It and also lost one seat in Slovenian Parliament, falling to 28.
With the election of the Social Democrat leader Borut Pahor as Prime Minister of Slovenia, the Slovenian Democratic Party officially declared it would stay in opposition and form a shadow cabinet. The shadow government was formed in late December 2008, and it includes several independent members as well as members from other conservative parties.[1]
In the European elections of 2009, the SDS was the most voted party in Slovenia with 26,9 % of votes, more than eight points ahead of the second most voted party, the ruling Social Democrats.
In May 2009, the Slovenian Democratic Party started to lead in most opinion polls, and since December 2009 it has maintained a constant lead over its main rival, the Social Democrats.[2]
In 2009, the MP Franc Pukšič left the Slovenian Democratic Party and joined the Slovenian People's Party; the SDS parliamentary group thus shrunk from 28 to 27 MPs.
Organization and political affiliation
The Slovenian Democratic Party has around 27,000 members, which is the largest party membership in Slovenia.[3] The party is subdivided into several organizations that cover specific segments; one of them is the Slovenian Democratic Youth (Slovene: Slovenska demokratska mladina, acronym SDM), the youth section of the party, currently led by Klement Perko.
Influential members and officials of the party include Miha Brejc and Matjaž Šinkovec who were co-founders of the Slovenian Social Democratic Union. Other influential members are Milan Zver, current vice president of the party and European MP, former chairman of the Slovenian National Assembly France Cukjati, and former ministers Dragutin Mate, Gregor Virant and Iztok Jarc, and member of European Parliament Romana Jordan Cizelj. Among the deceased members, the most prominent were Jože Pučnik, Rudi Šeligo and Katja Boh.
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 ([Zbor za republiko] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)).
Public support
The party has a strong support in some neo-conservative and classical liberal intellectual circles in Slovenia. Public figures who have publicly supported the party or have been known of being close to its policies and programmatic stance include the economist Ljubo Sirc (who joined the party in May 2010), legal expert Peter Jambrek, philosopher Ivan Urbančič, sociologist Frane Adam, historians Vasko Simoniti and Alenka Puhar, writer and essayist Drago Jančar, poet and editor Niko Grafenauer, literary historian Janko Kos, theologian and philosopher Janez Juhant, and poets Dane Zajc and Tone Kuntner. Public supporters of the party also include sportsmen Miran Pavlin, Aleš Čeh, Sebastjan Cimirotič, Katja Koren, and Davo Karničar, pop singer Marta Zore, designer and cartoonist Miki Muster, actors Radko Polič and Roman Končar, actor and showman Jernej Kuntner.
Parliamentary representation:
Party leaders
Presidents of the Social Democratic Party and Slovenian Democratic Party
- France Tomšič, 1989-1990
- Jože Pučnik, 1990-1993
- Janez Janša, 1993-current
External links
References
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (April 2009) |
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