Social Democratic Party of Slovakia


The Social Democratic Party of Slovakia was a centre-left political party in Slovakia. Its last chairman, since 1993, was, its chairman in 1992 was Alexander Dubček.

Czechoslovakia (till 1992)

The party arose after the Velvet Revolution, in January 1990, and declared that it will attempt to continue the work of the "Slovak Social Democratic Party of Hungary" and of other social democratic parties forbidden in 1948 by the Communists.
Most of the time it failed to win seats in elections. In 1992 the party gained five seats in the "House of Nations" of the federal parliament of Czechoslovakia, which however was only because the party chairman was briefly Alexander Dubček, the ex-Czechoslovak leader, in 1992. Prior to his early death in November 1992, he was one of their MP's in the federal parliament.

Independent Slovakia (from 1993)

From 1994 to 1997, the SDSS was a member of a coalition called "Common Choice" that gained 10.18% in the Slovak parliament. They did not form a part of the government.
Following the 1998 elections, they joined the ruling Slovak Democratic Coalition until 2002. When Slovakia became a member of the European Union, they were a part of the pan-European Party of European Socialists, along with the Party of the Democratic Left. The SDSS was also a member of the Socialist International.
In 2003, an agreement was signed with the Direction party to work closely together in all spheres. On 1 January 2005 the SDSS finally merged with Direction to form Direction – Social Democracy.