Democrats (Slovakia)

The Democrats (Slovak: Demokrati), known as Together – Civic Democracy (Slovak: Spolu – občianska demokracia, Spolu) from 2018 until 2023, and later the Blue Coalition (Slovak: Modrá koalícia, Modrí), is a Slovak political party founded in 2018 by Miroslav Beblavý. The party has changed leadership multiple times and is led by the former Minister of Defense of Slovakia Jaroslav Naď since 2 December 2023.

Democrats Demokrati
Chairman	Jaroslav Naď
Vice Chairmen	Eduard Heger Andrea Letanovská František Oľha [sk] Juraj Šeliga
Founders	Miroslav Beblavý
Founded	28 January 2018 (2018-01-28) (as Together – Civic Democracy)
Split from	Network[1]
Preceded by	Civic Democratic Platform[lower-alpha 1] (Democrats)
Headquarters	Palisády 33 811 06 Bratislava-Staré Mesto
Membership (2023)	397[2]
Ideology	Liberal conservatism Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre[3][4]
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament group	European People's Party
Colours	Magenta,   Purple,   Turquoise
National Council	1 / 150
European Parliament	0 / 15
Regional governors	0 / 8
Regional deputies[lower-alpha 2]	36 / 419
Mayors[lower-alpha 2]	7 / 2,904
Local councillors[lower-alpha 2]	184 / 20,462
Website
www.smedemokrati.sk
Politics of Slovakia Political parties Elections

Ideology

Together – Civic Democracy was a centre-right conservative liberal and liberal conservative party.^[5][6][7] Spolu was placed as centrist^[8] or centre-right on the political spectrum.^[9] The former chairman of the party Eduard Heger presented the party as centrist, pro-European, pro-NATO and green.^[3][4]

History

Creation and parliamentary elections

The creation of Spolu was announced on 17 November 2017, by former under-secretary of Sieť Miroslav Beblavý, who left the party in protest of its decision to join the Smer-led government, and former under-secretary of liberal SaS Jozef Mihál.^[10]

The party presents itself as a centre-right, pro-European party focusing on a modern economy, accessible healthcare and a functional educational system.^[11][12]

The Fonding Council of Spolu consists of independent MPs of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and former members of Sieť, SaS and OĽaNO: Oto Žarnay, Jozef Mihál, Simona Petrík, Viera Dubačová, Miroslav Beblavý, Katarína Macháčková and lawyer Pavel Nechala of Transparency International.^[13]

The party's founding congress was held on 14 April 2018 in Poprad. Miroslav Beblavý was elected as its leader. Katarína Macháčková and Jozef Mihál were elected as deputy leaders, with the third deputy leader being Erik Baláž, founder of environmentalist campaign We are the forest, and recipient of the White Crow 2017 award for the fight against corruption.^[14]

In the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election, Democrats joined the socially liberal party Progressive Slovakia with which they created a coalition but narrowly failed to get into the parliament^[15] due to its low popularity.^[16]

Crisis of Heger's Cabinet

Blue Coalition logo

After the crisis of Cabinet of Eduard Heger in 2023, then-leader of the party Miroslav Kollár met former prime minister of Slovakia Mikuláš Dzurinda, with whom he planned to co-operate during the following parliamentary elections. Dzurinda had originally planned to create his own liberal-conservative political force "The Blues – European People's Party", but the announcement of early elections changed his plans.^[17]

On 27 January, after the announcement of a snap election, Dzurinda presented the Blue Coalition, returning to Slovak politics after leaving it ten years ago.^[18] At a press conference, Dzurinda presented his project, with which he wants to fight "for a European Slovakia", wants to be "a reasonable alternative to the mafia and chaos" and "for a modern and educated Slovakia". He called the Blue Coalition his new political home.^[17][19][20] Dzurinda's press conference was attended by former members of the SDKÚ-DS and leader of the SPOLU party Miroslav Kollár.^[21] Both the leader of ODS and the leader of Democrats of Slovakia, minor centre-right parties which cooperated with SPOLU, announced their support for the Blue Coalition.^{[22][23][better source needed]}

Due to disagreements with Kollár, Dzurinda left the project shortly after and founded his own The Blues – European Slovakia party. Then-Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger assumed the leadership of the party which was renamed to Demokrati (lit. 'Democrats')^[24]

Criticism

The leader of the Christian Democratic Movement Milan Majerský criticized Dzurinda's "dream" of uniting the KDH, SaS and PS in the elections, saying that the "non-aggression pact" with Progressive Slovakia in the last elections brought damage to the party.^[25][26]

Party leaders

Leader		Year
Together – Civic Democracy
1	Miroslav Beblavý	2018–2020
2	Juraj Hipš	2020–2021
3	Miroslav Kollár	2021–2023
Blue Coalition
3	Miroslav Kollár	2023–2023
Democrats
4	Eduard Heger	2023–2023
5	Jaroslav Naď	2023–present

Election results

National Council

Together – Civic Democracy

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Rank	Seats	+/–	Status
2020	Miroslav Beblavý	200,780	7.0%	5th	0 / 150		Extra-parliamentary
	In coalition with Progressive Slovakia, which did not win any seat.

Democrats

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Rank	Seats	+/–	Status
2023	Eduard Heger	87,006	2.9%	10th	0 / 150	0	Extra-parliamentary

European Parliament

Together – Civic Democracy

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Rank	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2019	Michal Šimečka	198,255	20.1%	1st	2 / 14		EPP
	In coalition with Progressive Slovakia, which won 4 seats in total.

Democrats

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Rank	Seats	+/–	EP Group
2024	Jaroslav Naď	69,204	4.7%	7th	0 / 15	2	–

Notes

1. splinter faction from OĽaNO
2. Also with coalitions

References

1. "ROZHOVOR: Beblavý chce preraziť vlastnou stranou. Koho do nej zláka a z čoho to zaplatí?". www1.pluska.sk (in Slovak). 2018-07-21. Retrieved 2024-01-02.
2. https://www.minv.sk/swift_data/source/statna_komisia_pre_volby/30_annual_report/ar2023/VS23_DEMOKRATI.pdf
3. "Foto: Prichádzajú Demokrati. Heger predstavil prvé tváre novej politickej strany". TA3 (in Slovak). 7 March 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
4. "Demokrati boli zapísaní do registra politických strán". Democrats (in Slovak). 6 April 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
5. Lang, Kai-Olaf; Walther, Eva-Maria (27 February 2020). "Slowakei: Neuanfang mit Unbekannten". German Institute for International and Security Affairs (in German).
6. Kepplova, Zuzana; Przybylski, Wojciech (27 February 2020). "Not Another Miracle". Visegrád Insight.
7. "Progresívne a Spolu. Kde sú dnes a akú rolu zohrajú na politickej mape?". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 28 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
8. Germanová, Miroslava (30 December 2019). "Slovakia, 2019: The Year of President Zuzana Čaputová". Balkan Insight.
9. "Beblavého strana Spolu podporí na prezidenta vedca Roberta Mistríka". Denník N (in Slovak). 17 June 2018.
10. "Beblavého strana sa bude volať Spolu | občianska demokracia". Denník N (in Slovak). 12 September 2017.
11. "Beblavý: Spolu sme občianskymi demokratmi, pokračovateľmi Novembra '89". Teraz (in Slovak). 6 February 2018.
12. "Ministerstvo vnútra zaregistrovalo stranu Spolu - občianska demokracia". Teraz (in Slovak). 26 January 2018.
13. "Political party registration sheet at Ministry of Interior". ives.minv.sk. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
14. Mrvová, Iva (14 April 2018). "Do politiky vstupuje známy ekológ z iniciatívy My sme les". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 5 February 2019.
15. "Beblavý a Truban končia ako šéfovia, jeden odchádza z politiky". Pravda (in Slovak). 2 March 2020.
16. "Prieskum volebných preferenciído NRSR" (PDF). ako.sk (in Slovak). 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
17. "Jablko aj Modrá koalícia. Do boja o parlamentné kreslá vstupujú nové politické subjekty - 2". TA3 (in Slovak). Retrieved 3 February 2023.^{[permanent dead link]}
18. "Strana Spolu mení názov. Po novom sa bude volať Modrá koalícia". Trend (in Slovak). 24 January 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
19. "Nepovedal, či Modrú koalíciu povedie, novinárov poučoval. Dzurinda predstavil svoj návrat do politiky". Sme (in Slovak). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
20. "Expremiér Mikuláš Dzurinda predstavil základy a členov Modrej koalície". TA3 (in Slovak). 27 January 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
21. "Dzurindova strana: Modrá koalícia dnes ukáže nové tváre". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 26 January 2023.
22. Kovačič Hanzelová, Zuzana; Kostanjevec, Oliver (27 January 2023). "Macko: Modrú koalíciu som navrhoval pred rokom, bolo to odmietnuté". Sme (in Slovak). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
23. Kaník, Ľudovít (28 January 2023). "Mikulaš Dzurinda to povedal veľmi dobre". Facebook (in Slovak). Retrieved 3 February 2023.
24. "Slovenský premiér Heger končí v Matovičově hnutí. Stal se lídrem Demokratů". Deník (in Czech). 7 March 2023.
25. "Šéf KDH: Dzurindova Modrá koalícia? Neznámi ľudia a Miro Kollár nie sú nádejou na úspech". Pravda (in Slovak). 1 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
26. "M. Majerský v Na telo Plus: Dzurindova Modrá koalícia mi pripomína OĽaNO, Hegerovi som ponúkol dvojku na kandidátke". TV Noviny (in Slovak). Markíza. 3 February 2023.