The Democratic Party ( sk, Demokratická strana) was a conservative

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, existing during the final phase of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the Third Czechoslovak Republic, from 1944 to 1948.

History

It arose during the 1944 Slovak National Uprising as a party for all non-communist participants (i.e. the counterpart of the Communist Party of Slovakia). It was led by Ján Ursíny (1896–1972),

Vavro Šrobár Vavrinec Ján Šrobár, known as Vavro Šrobár (9 August 1867 – 6 December 1950) was a Slovak doctor and politician. He was a major figure in Slovak politics in the interwar period. Šrobár played an important role in the creation of Czec ...

(1867–1950) and

Jozef Lettrich Jozef Lettrich (17 June 1905 — 29 November 1969) was a Slovak writer and politician. Lettrich is best known as the leader of the non-Communist, big tent Democratic Party between 1944 and 1948. Lettrich opposed the Nazi-allied Ľudaks who ruled ...

(1905–1969). All three had been members of the agrarian Republican Party of Farmers and Peasants before World War II. In the 1946 elections in Czechoslovakia, the party won as much as 62% of the Slovak votes and 43 of 300 seats in the Czechoslovak Constituent National Assembly. However, the party was disempowered in 1947–48 by the Communists, who had a majority in the central government in Prague (because unlike in Slovakia, the Communists had won the 1946 elections in the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since 1 ...

). Following the Communist takeover in the February 1948 coup d'état, the party was disbanded. Ursíny was imprisoned for several years, while Lettrich fled to the United States and became a leader of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia exile organisation. Those members who accepted the communist dominance reorganised in March 1948 as the

Party of Slovak Revival Party of Slovak Revival ( sk, Strana slovenskej obrody, SSO) was a political party founded in 1948 by pro-Communist members of the Slovak Democratic Party. It was accepted into the Czechoslovak National Front and got 17 seats in the Slovak parl ...

(''Strana slovenskej obrody'', SSO), a

bloc party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

within the pro-communist National Front. In December 1989, at the end of the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

, the Party of Slovak Revival rebranded itself as a new Democratic Party, claiming to be a continuation of the 1940s Democratic Party.

Election results

{, class="wikitable" ! Year ! Leader ! Vote ! Vote % ! Seats ! Place ! Government , - ,

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

, 999,622 , 14.1 , , 6th , style="background-color:#77EE77" , {{center, Yes Conservative parties in Slovakia Defunct agrarian political parties Defunct political parties in Slovakia Political parties in Czechoslovakia Political parties established in 1944 1944 establishments in Slovakia Political parties disestablished in 1948 1948 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia