The Democratic Party () was a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, existing during the final phase of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Third Czechoslovak Republic The Third Czechoslovak Republic, officially the Czechoslovak Republic, was a sovereign state from April 1945 to February 1948 following the end of World War II. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the country was reformed and reassigned coterminous ...

, from 1944 to 1948.

History

It arose during the 1944

Slovak National Uprising Slovak National Uprising ( Slovak: ''Slovenské národné povstanie'', abbreviated SNP; alternatively also ''Povstanie roku 1944'', English: ''The Uprising of 1944'') was organised by the Slovak resistance during the Second World War, directed ag ...

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 (1867–1950) and

Jozef Lettrich Jozef Lettrich (17 June 1905 in Turčianske Teplice — 29 November 1969 in New York City) was a Slovak writer and politician. Lettrich is best known as the leader of the non-Communist, big tent Democratic Party (Slovakia, 1944), Democratic Part ...

(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 (, ) is a historical-geographical term which denotes the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia out of which Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic and Slovakia, were formed. ...

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

bloc party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

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

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

, 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 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, 999,622 , 14.1 , , 6th , style="background-color:#77EE77" , {{center, Yes Conservative parties in Slovakia Defunct agrarian political parties in Europe 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