Liberal Democratic Party (Czechoslovakia)

Not to be confused with LIDEM.

The Liberal Democratic Party (Czech: Liberálně demokratická strana; LDS), originally known as the Czechoslovak Democratic Initiative, was a Czechoslovak liberal political party formed on 31 January 1990,^[1] shortly after the Velvet Revolution, by Emanuel Mandler (born 1932) and his political group,^[2] inspired by the political ideas of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk.^[3]

Liberal Democratic Party Liberálně demokratická strana
Founded	1990
Dissolved	1992
Merged into	Civic Democratic Alliance
Ideology	Liberalism
Politics of Czechoslovakia Political parties Elections

LDS was initially active in the Civic Forum, before splitting from the party after the June 1990 parliamentary elections to work as an separate party.^[2] At this point the party had two representatives in the Federal Assembly, five in the Czech National Council, and 25 local branches with a membership of between 1300 and 5000.^[4] However, the party struggled to survive outside of Civic Forum, and was dependent on support from the German Free Democratic Party.^[4] The party elected a new leader, Viktorie Hradská (born 1944), in November 1991, but soon split, with Hradská's faction soon merging with the Civic Democratic Alliance.^[4]

The party was liquidated in 1992.^[1]

References

1. "Liberálně demokratická strana". Archived from the original on 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
2. Kopeček, Michal (10 November 2015). Thinking Through Transition: Liberal Democracy, Authoritarian Pasts, and Intellectual History in East Central Europe After 1989. Central European University Press. p. 118. ISBN 9789633860854. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
3. Kopeček, Michal (10 November 2015). Thinking Through Transition: Liberal Democracy, Authoritarian Pasts, and Intellectual History in East Central Europe After 1989. Central European University Press. p. 111. ISBN 9789633860854. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
4. Hanley, Sean (7 August 2007). The New Right in the New Europe: Czech Transformation and Right-Wing Politics, 1989–2006. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 9781134295654. Retrieved 23 July 2017.