Liberal Party (, LS) was a

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 ...

founded on 28 March 2003 by dissident parliamentarians who split from

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak former politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from June 1990 to May 1991, June 1992 to March 1994, and again from December 1994 to October 1998. He was the leader of the Movemen ...

Movement for a Democratic Slovakia Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

(HZDS). The party was founded under the name People's Union (''Ľudová únia'') and renamed itself to 'Liberal Party' on 26 March 2007. From 2003 to 2006 the party had MPs in the Slovak Parliament (elected on the HZDS ticket), since 2006 the party is extra-parliamentary. LS runs on a conservative and populist platform.

History

The party was founded by 11

party MPs: Miroslav Abelovský, Jozef Brhel, Jozef Elsner, Ján Gabriel,

Ján Mikolaj Ján Mikolaj (born 19 October 1953) is a Slovak politician, a member of Slovak National Party and the Slovak Education Minister from 2006 to 2010. Formerly, he was a member of Mečiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia Movement may refer to: ...

, Ivan Kiňo, Gustáv Krajči, Igor Pinkava, Ladislav Polka, Vojtech Tkáč, Rudolf Žiak and numerous prominent ex-HZDS members like

Peter Chudík Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Peter Tomeček Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Oľga Keltošová Olga Keltošová (née Suchalová; 27 February 1943 in Pezinok) is a former Slovak politician. Before the break-up of Czechoslovakia, she served as Vice President of the Slovak National Council. She was a parliamentary deputy and one of the chief ...

. The party was first led by Vojtech Tkáč, before Gustáv Krajči was elected leader in 2004. Krajčí remains the president of the party. In July 2004, Tkáč resigned from his position of party leader.

and other deputy leaders resigned as well, citing their opposition to some party members voting differently in the Parliament than agreed upon inside the party.

Party leadership

* Since founding on 28 March 2003: Vojtech Tkáč (Leader) * Since the 9 October 2004 Party Congress in

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; ; ) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest town of the Spišská Nová Ves Distric ...

: Gustáv Krajči (Leader), Vladimír Hricko (Deputy for Public Service and Regional Politics), Ján Gabriel (Deputy for Economics) * Current leadership: Gustáv Krajči (Leader), Peter Kováčik and Miroslav Jevočin and Anton Tanistrák (Deputies), Alexandra Farkašová (General Secretary)

Elections results

The party took part in the European Parliament election in 2004 under the name People's Union (ĽÚ) in coalition with Movement for Democracy (HZD). Together they received 1,69% of votes and therefore no seat in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

References

External links

Official Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberalna Strana Liberal conservative parties in Slovakia 2003 establishments in Slovakia Political parties established in 2003