Liberal Democracy of Slovenia

Infobox State of former Yugoslavia Political Party
party_name = Liberalna demokracija Slovenije
english_name = Liberal Democracy of Slovenia
country = Slovenia
party_
party_wikicolourid = Republican
leader = Katarina Kresal
foundation = 1994
ideology = Liberalism
headquarters = Ljubljana
colours = blue
website_address = http://www.lds.si/
website_title = LDS Website
european = European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
europarl = Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Liberal Democracy of Slovenia or LDS ( _sl. Liberalna demokracija Slovenije) is a liberal political party in Slovenia. It is led by Katarina Kresal and is a member of the Liberal International and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party.

In 1990, the well-known Slovenian sociologist, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Žižek was the LDS' candidate for the Presidency of Slovenia (an auxiliary body of the President of the Republic, abolished in 1992).

At the European Parliament election in 2004 LDS won 21.9% of the vote, which yielded 2 seats in the European Parliament out of Slovenia's allocation of 7.

The LDS formed coalitions ruling the governments of Slovenia from 1992 to 2004, with an interruption for a few months in 2000. The first prime minister from LDS was Janez Drnovšek, who became the President of Slovenia in 2002 and was succeeded by Anton Rop, former Minister of Finances.

At the 2004 elections, the party suffered a considerable loss of votes. The Slovenian Democratic Party became the largest party, and the Liberal Democracy went into opposition. The party held 23 seats (22.8% votes) in the National Assembly until 2007, when 12 members resigned from the party.

Following the defeat of 2004, the party suffered a severe internal crisis. In 2005, the Anton Rop resigned as president and was succeeded by Jelko Kacin. Two years later, a group led by Matej Lahovnik and former Secretary General of the Party, Gregor Golobič, left the Liberal Democracy and founded a new political party, "Zares". In the same year, several prominent members left the party and joined the Social Democrats, including the former prime minister Anton Rop. Following these events, Jelko Kacin resigned as president and was succeeded by Katarina Kresal. Following Kresal's election as president, several other prominent members, including former minister of health Dušan Keber, decided to leave the party.

Before the 2008 elections they joined up with the later victorious Social Democrats and Zares to form an unofficial coalition. The Liberal Democracy of Slovenia is now the smallest parliamentary party in the country, its representation having dropped from 23 seats in 2004 to just five in 2008.

Parliamentary representation:ImageSize = width:350 height:120PlotArea = width:250 height:80 left:50 bottom:20AlignBars = justify

DateFormat = yyyyPeriod = from:0 till:50TimeAxis = orientation:verticalScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:0

PlotData= bar:Seats color:powderblue width:30 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1990 color: oceanblue from:start till:12 text:12 bar:1992 from:start till:22 text:22 bar:1992 from:22 till:28 text:6 DP bar:1992 from:28 till:33 text:5 Greens bar:1996 from:start till:25 text:25 bar:2000 from:start till:34 text:34 bar:2004 from:start till:12 text:12 bar:2004 from:12 till:16 text:4 SD bar:2004 from:16 till:23 text:7 Zares&other bar:2008 from:start till:5 text:5

Prominent members

*Janez Drnovšek (left the party)
*Slavoj Žižek (left the party)
*Anton Rop (left the party)
*Jelko Kacin
*Mojca Drčar Murko
*Dimitrij Rupel (left the party)
*Ivo Vajgl (left the party)
*Igor Bavčar
*Jože Pirjevec
*Gregor Golobič (left the party)

ee also

*Liberalism
*Contributions to liberal theory
*Liberalism worldwide
*List of liberal parties
*Liberal democracy
*Liberalism in Slovenia

External links

* [http://www.lds.si/ Liberal Democracy of Slovenia] official site