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Direction – Social Democracy
Slovak political party / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Direction – Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer – sociálna demokracia, Smer–SD), also commonly referred to as Smer, is a nominally social democratic political party in Slovakia led by the incumbent prime minister Robert Fico.[22]
Direction – Social Democracy Smer – sociálna demokracia | |
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![]() | |
Abbreviation | Smer |
Leader | Robert Fico |
Deputy Leaders | |
General Secretary | Marián Saloň |
Founder | Robert Fico |
Founded | 8 November 1999 (1999-11-08) |
Split from | Party of the Democratic Left |
Headquarters | Súmračná 3263/25, 82102 Bratislava |
Youth wing | Young Social Democrats |
Membership (2022) | ![]() |
Ideology | |
Political position |
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European affiliation | Party of European Socialists (suspended)[18] |
European Parliament group | Non-Inscrits[19] |
International affiliation | |
Colours | |
Slogan | "Stability, order and social security" (2023)[20] |
National Council | 42 / 150 |
European Parliament | 5 / 15 |
Regional governors[21] | 1 / 8 |
Regional deputies[lower-alpha 1][21] | 50 / 419 |
Mayors[lower-alpha 1][21] | 516 / 2,904 |
Local councillors[lower-alpha 1][21] | 2,364 / 20,462 |
Website | |
strana-smer | |
Founded by Fico in 1999 as a split from the post-communist Party of the Democratic Left, Smer initially defined itself as the Third Way party.[23] It adopted the epithet Social Democracy after merging with several minor center-left parties in 2005.[24] It dominated Slovak politics from 2006 to 2020, leading two coalition governments (2006–2010, 2016–2020) and one single-party government (2012–2016). During its 12 years in charge it continued the European integration of Slovakia, lifted some economic-liberal reforms of the previous center-right governments and introduced various social welfare measures.[25] Smer-led governments have been associated with numerous political corruption scandals, and have been accused by opponents to have resulted in a deterioration of the rule of law in Slovakia.[26][27][28][29][30]
After the 2020 parliamentary election (Smer's return to the opposition), Slovak authorities investigated a number of corruption-related crimes involving multiple Smer politicians and individuals reportedly linked to the party, with a total of 42 of them being convicted.[31][32][33][34][35] At the party congress in July 2020, following a major internal split (which resulted in the founding of a new party named Voice – Social Democracy, also known as Hlas–SD), Fico announced a shift to "the rustic social democracy that perceives the specifics of Slovak reality".[36][37] Post-2020 Smer holds stances that have been described as nationalist, populist and Russophilic.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44]
In 2023, Smer won the parliamentary election with 23% of the vote and 42 seats in the National Council and subsequently formed the Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico.[45]