Change from Bottom, Democratic Union of Slovakia ( sk, Zmena zdola, Demokratická únia Slovenska; ) (in the years 2000—2002 Liberal Democratic Union, abbreviation LDÚ, in the 2002—2010 Democratic Union of Slovakia, abbreviation DÚ) is a non-parliamentary political party in

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 ...

since 2000. Its chairman

Ján Budaj Ján Budaj is a Slovak politician and environmental activist. He is mostly known by his participation in the Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent ...

is a member of the

National Council of the Slovak Republic The National Council of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Národná rada Slovenskej republiky), abbreviated to ''NR SR'', is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under ...

elected on the OĽaNO party's list of candidates.

Party leadership

– chairman

Key members of the party

* Juraj Smatana – teacher, popular blogger and civic activist. Member of the Regional Office of the

Trenčín Region The Trenčín Region ( sk, Trenčiansky kraj, ; cs, Trenčínský kraj; hu, Trencséni kerület) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of 9 districts ('' okresy''). The region was established in 1996: previously it had ...

elected as the

Považská Bystrica District Považská Bystrica District ( sk, okres Považská Bystrica, ; hu, Vágbesztercei járás) is a Districts of Slovakia, district in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was part of the Administrative divisions of the ...

History

The Democratic Union of Slovakia was founded by a group of members of the Democratic Union, dissatisfied with the merger of the Democratic Union into the

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

. The group was led by Ján Budaj, who was elected chairman of the party on the founding republican committee on November 4, 2000. The party was registered with the Ministry of the Interior on September 7, 2000, under the original name of the Liberal Democratic Union. In 2002, the party was renamed to a name almost identical to the name of the defunct party "Democratic Union" (see

Democratic Union of Slovakia The Democratic Union of Slovakia ( sk, Demokratická únia Slovenska, DEÚS) was a political party in Slovakia led by Jozef Moravčík Jozef Moravčík (born 19 March 1945) is a Slovak diplomat and political figure A politician is a perso ...

(1994) / DEÚS and Democratic Union / DÚ).

Election results

* 2002 parliamentary election - the party ran for election in coalition with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Just before the elections, however, the Democratic Party withdrew the candidate with a recommendation for its supporters to elect the

, and thus the Democratic Union of Slovakia dropped out of the election competition without its own intervention. *

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...

- the party achieved an electoral gain of 0.19% of the vote and did not get into the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. * 2002 parliamentary election - party politicians took part in the elections for the candidate of the

Free Forum The Free Forum ( sk, Slobodné fórum, ; "Free" in the sense of "freedom") was a political party in Slovakia, founded in 2004 by dissident parliamentarians from the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKÚ). Zuzana Martináková is the leader o ...

, which did not get into parliament. * 2012 parliamentary election - the party achieved an electoral gain of 1.29% and did not get into the National Counci. * 2016 parliamentary election - the party as an independent subject did not run for parliamentary elections, but after an agreement with the

Ordinary People and Independent Personalities Ordinary People and Independent Personalities) ( sk, Obyčajní ľudia a nezávislé osobnosti) is a conservative political party in Slovakia. The anti-establishment party founded in 2011 won the 2020 parliamentary election on an anti-corrupt ...

movement.

Voting preferences

As the party has not run for the National Council of the Slovak Republic independently since 2012, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic does not record its preferences.

Chairman

* since 2000 Ján Budaj

Notes

References

External links

Official site

Entry in the register of pages of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic
{{Political parties in Slovakia Liberal conservative parties in Slovakia Politics of Slovakia