The Democratic Party of Slovenia ( sl, Demokratska stranka Slovenije) is an extra-parliamentary centrist political party in Slovenia. It was established in March 1994, when the majority of the then existing Democratic Party ( sl, Demokratska stranka) led by

Dimitrij Rupel Dimitrij Rupel (born 7 April 1946) is a Slovenian politician. Early life and education Rupel was born in Ljubljana, in what was then the PR Slovenia, into a bourgeois family of former anti-fascist political emigrants from the Julian March (his ...

joined the ruling

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia Liberal Democracy of Slovenia ( sl, Liberalna demokracija Slovenije, LDS) is a social-liberal political party in Slovenia. Between 1992 and 2004 it was the largest (and ruling) party in the country. In the 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election, i ...

. A minority of the party membership decided to stay in opposition and continue the legacy of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party was established in October 1991 as the result of the split within the

Slovenian Democratic Union The Slovenian Democratic Union ( sl, Slovenska demokratična zveza, acronym SDZ) was a Slovene liberal political party, active between 1989 and 1991, during the democratization and the secession of the Republic of Slovenia from Yugoslavia. His ...

. In May 1992, the party entered the coalition government of

Janez Drnovšek Janez Drnovšek (; 17 May 1950 – 23 February 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1989–1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992–2002, with a short break in 2000) and President of Slovenia (200 ...

, supported by the left wing of the former

DEMOS coalition Democratic Opposition of Slovenia, also known as the DEMOS (in Slovenian: ''Demokratična opozicija Slovenije'') was a coalition of centre-right political parties, created by an agreement between the Slovenian Democratic Union, the Social Democrat ...

(besides the Democratic Party, also the

Social Democratic Party of Slovenia The Slovenian Democratic Party ( sl, Slovenska demokratska stranka, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia ( sl, Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije, SDSS), is a Conservatism, conservative List of political parties in Slovenia, p ...

and the

Greens of Slovenia Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

), the

United List of Social Democrats The Social Democrats ( sl, Socialni demokrati, SD) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left and Pro-Europeanism, pro-European Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Slovenia, political party in Slovenia led by Tanja Fajon. ...

and the Liberal Democratic Party. The Democrats retained three ministers in the government,

Igor Bavčar Igor Bavčar (born 28 November 1955) is a Slovenian politician and manager. He rose to prominence during the Slovenian spring, when he served as chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, the largest independent civil society mo ...

(Interior),

(Exterior) and

Jelko Kacin Jelko Kacin (born 26 November 1955) is a Slovenian politician. During the Slovenian Independence War, he was the Secretary of Information of Slovenia. He founded the Slovenian Press Agency on 3 June 1991 and the war (also called the Ten-Day War ...

(Information). In the second free elections in Slovenia, celebrated in autumn of 1992, the party gained 5.01% of the vote and 6 MPs. In 1994, the majority of the party membership and 3 of its 6 MPs decided to join the

. The minority of the party re-founded the party and continued an independent political activity. In the election of 1996, the Democratic Party received 3.3% of the vote and remained without parliamentary representation. In 2007, the party signed a cooperation agreement with the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

Prominent members of the Democratic Party

(left the party in 1994) *

France Bučar France Bučar (2 February 1923 – 21 October 2015) was a Slovenian politician, legal expert and author. Between 1990 and 1992, he served as the first speaker of the freely elected Slovenian Parliament. He was the one to formally declare the inde ...

(left the party in 1993) * Danica Simšič *

Jože Mencinger Jože Mencinger (5 March 1941 – 26 August 2022) was a Slovenian lawyer, economist, and politician. Mencinger was born in Jesenice, Slovenia, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After finishing the study of law at the University of Ljublja ...

* Tone Peršak *

Tine Hribar Tine Hribar (born 28 January 1941 as Velentin Hribar) is a Slovenian philosopher and public intellectual, notable for his interpretations of Heidegger and his role in the democratization of Slovenia between 1988 and 1990, known as the Slovenian ...

Spomenka Hribar Spomenka Hribar (born 25 January 1941) is a Slovenian author, philosopher, sociologist, politician, columnist, and public intellectual. She was one of the most influential Slovenian intellectuals in the 1980s, and was frequently called "the Firs ...

Prominent members of the Democratic Party

See also