United Left ( sl, Združena levica, abbreviated ZL) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

between the (DSD), (TRS), and

Initiative for Democratic Socialism Initiative for Democratic Socialism (IDS) was a Slovenian Marxism, Marxist party, founded in 2014. Its collective leadership structure without an individual leader, inspired by Occupy Wall Street,

(IDS). The alliance was also founded by a "fourth group" of non-party civic groups and movements, and autonomous individuals. On 24 June 2017, two of the constituent parties – TRS and IDS – merged into a single party. The alliance is succeeded by The Left ( sl, Levica, formerly TRS and IDS), and DSD, which has adopted the new title, ZL-DSD.

History

The alliance was formed as a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and eurosceptic electoral list with the intention of contesting local, European parliament, and general elections. ZL made its electoral debut during the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

where it did not garner a sufficient vote share to be granted any seats. Its electoral breakthrough came during the

2014 Slovenian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovenia on 13 July 2014 to elect the 90 deputies of the National Assembly. The early election, less than three years after the previous one, was called following the resignation of Alenka Bratušek's governmen ...

, gaining the 5th most votes and being granted 6 parliamentary seats. The alliance did not contest the local elections as a single entity, instead, each of the three constituent parties put forward candidates independently. None of the parties were successful in electing any mayors, however, each of them elected multiple representatives in town/municipality councils. After a lengthy and tumultuous unification process, two of the constituent parties - TRS and IDS - finalized their merger into a single party on 24 June 2017. Luka Mesec was elected party coordinator (he previously held that position in IDS) as the sole candidate. The process was marked by internal disputes. Representatives of DSD and the fourth group, which do not hold any of the 6 parliamentary seats, stated that the other two parties increasingly operated in a non-democratic manner as the reason for remaining independent. The merger was also marked by an exodus of IDS members. IDS was marked by an internal dispute as to whether the parties should unify or continue to operate as an alliance, with dissenting members citing loss of internal democracy and clear political goals as their chief objections.

Popular support and electoral results

National Assembly of Slovenia

European Parliament

References

External links

Official website
(in Slovene) {{Party of the European Left 2014 establishments in Slovenia 2017 disestablishments in Slovenia Anti-capitalist political parties Defunct left-wing political party alliances Defunct political parties in Slovenia Defunct political party alliances in Europe Defunct socialist parties in Europe Democratic socialist parties in Europe Ecosocialist parties Party of the European Left former member parties Political parties disestablished in 2017 Political parties established in 2014 Political party alliances in Slovenia Socialist parties in Slovenia