Slovenian Democratic Party

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Slovenian Democratic Party Slovenska demokratska stranka
Abbreviation	SDS
Leader	Janez Janša
Founded	16 February 1989
Headquarters	Trstenjakova ulica 8, Ljubljana
Youth wing	Slovenian Democratic Youth[1]
Membership (2013)	30,000[2]
Ideology	Conservatism[3] National conservatism[4] Slovenian nationalism[5][6][7] Right-wing populism[8][9] Anti-immigration[9][10] Anticommunism[11]
Political position	Right-wing[9][14][15] to far-right[16][17][18]
European affiliation	European People's Party
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International International Democrat Union
European Parliament group	European People's Party
Colours	Yellow   Blue
Anthem	"Slovenska pomlad"[19] "Slovenian Spring"
National Assembly	27 / 90
European Parliament	2 / 8
Mayors	12 / 212
Municipal council	583 / 2,750
Party flag
Website
sds.si
Politics of Slovenia Political parties Elections

The Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovene: Slovenska demokratska stranka, SDS), formerly the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia (Slovene: Socialdemokratska stranka Slovenije, SDSS),^[20][21] is a conservative^[3] parliamentary party; it is also one of the largest parties^[22] in Slovenia, with approximately 30,000 reported members in 2013.

It has been described as nationalist^[23] and right-wing populist,^[8] encompassing both national^[24] and social conservatism.^[25] Led by former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša, the SDS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP), Centrist Democrat International^[26] and International Democrat Union.^[27]

SDS has its origins in the Slovenian anti-Communist pro-democracy dissident labour union movement of the late 1980s. The Social Democratic Union of Slovenia (later renamed Social Democratic Party and, in 2003, Slovenian Democratic Party) was first headed by trade unionist France Tomšič, then by the prominent Slovenian pro-independence and pro-democracy dissident Jože Pučnik, who resigned in 1993. The party was part of the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia (DEMOS) coalition.

The party's early ideological orientation was liberal, social democratic, and civic nationalist, reflecting a broad and somewhat fragmented coalition. In the 1992 parliamentary elections, SDS barely passed the parliamentary threshold, joining a Liberal Democracy of Slovenia-led coalition government. In 1993, Janez Janša, another prominent pro-democracy dissident turned politician, became party leader (a post he has held continuously since); Janša also served as Minister of Defense between 1990 and 1994. In 1994, Janša was ousted from his ministerial post due to his involvement in the Depala Vas affair; SDS consequently left the coalition government. SDS largely remained in opposition for the following 10 years, gaining in popularity and shifting its ideological outlook rightwards in the meanwhile. In 1995, SDS absorbed the conservative National Democratic Party, a former DEMOS coalition partner.

In 2004, SDS placed first in that year's parliamentary elections, forming a centre-right governing coalition with Janša as PM. The government oversaw the country's entry into the European Union and NATO, and a period of rapid economic growth. The government faced allegations of curtailing media freedom. In the 2008 parliamentary elections, SDS was surpassed by the Social Democrats.

SDS placed second in the 2011 parliamentary elections but managed to secure support for a SDS-led coalition government, forming the second Janša Cabinet. The government took office in the midst of the European debt crisis, instituting widely disliked austerity reforms which helped spark a series of massive anti-government protests. Opposition to the government was further fueled by corruption allegations against Janša, including his alleged involvement in the Patria affair as well as a 2013 KPK report which found that Janša had violated corruption prevention measures. The SDS-led government collapsed in early 2013 after losing support of coalition partners.

At the time of the 2014 parliamentary elections, SDS leader Janša was serving a prison sentence for a bribery conviction (which was later overturned by the supreme court and subsequently expired upon re-trial); SDS placed second. SDS won a plurality of votes in the 2018 election, however, most of the other parliamentary parties made pre-election pledges not to join a coalition government with SDS. After the centre-left coalition collapsed in early 2020, two of the parties that had seen a change of leadership since the election reneged on their pre-election pledge, clearing the path for the third Janša Cabinet. The new SDS-led government took office during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, Janša has been described as an illiberal leader.^[28][29]