Party of the Democratic Left (Slovakia)

Not to be confused with Party of the Democratic Left (Slovakia, 2005).

The Party of the Democratic Left (Slovak: Strana demokratickej ľavice, SDĽ) was a social-democratic political party in Slovakia from 1990 to 2004. It was founded in 1990 out of the Communist Party of Slovakia.

Party of the Democratic Left Strana demokratickej ľavice
Leader	Peter Weiss (1991–1996) Jozef Migaš (1996–2001) Pavel Koncoš (2001–2002) Ľubomír Petrák (2002–2004)
Deputy leader	Robert Fico (1998–1999) Branislav Ondruš (2001–2002)
Founder	Peter Weiss
Founded	22 November 1990
Dissolved	31 December 2004
Preceded by	Communist Party of Slovakia
Merged into	Direction–Social Democracy
Headquarters	Bratislava
Ideology	Social democracy[1] Democratic socialism[2]
Political position	Centre-left[3]
National affiliation	Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1990–1991) Common Choice (1994–1997)
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
European Parliament group	Party of European Socialists
International affiliation	Socialist International[4]
Colours	Pink
Party flag
Politics of Slovakia Political parties Elections

History

At the party congress on 14 December 1991 in Trenčín, the congress adopted new party constitution and decided to leave federation of Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia, due to disputes with the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and changing situation in the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. Congress reconfirmed Peter Weiss as party chairman.

From 1994 to 1997, SDĽ was a member of a coalition called "Common Choice" (Spoločná voľba) that gained 10.18% (18 seats) in the Slovak parliament. They did not form a part of the government. Since the 2002 elections, it has had no seat in the Slovak legislature. It was a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Socialist International.^[1]

On 4 December 2004, the party membership voted to merge with Direction – Social Democracy from 1 January 2005. The latter party had broken off from the SDL five years earlier.

Election results

National Council

Year	Leader	Vote	Vote %	Place	Seats	Government
1992	Peter Weiss	453,203	14.7	2nd	29 / 150	Opposition
1994		299,469	10.4	2nd	18 / 150	Opposition
1998	Jozef Migaš	492,507	14.7	3rd	23 / 150	SDK–SDĽ–SMK–SOP
2002	Pavel Koncoš	39,163	1.4	12th	0 / 150	No seats

Name changes

• Communist Party of Slovakia (succeeding Communist Party of Slovakia) (22. 11. 1990)
• Communist Party of Slovakia – Party of the Democratic Left (12. 2. 1991)
• Party of the Democratic Left (1. 2. 1992)

See also

• Party of the Democratic Left (Slovakia, 2005)
• Politics of Slovakia
• List of political parties in Slovakia
• Party of the Democratic Left (Czech Republic)