Direction – Social Democracy
Slovak political party / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Direction – Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer – sociálna demokracia, Smer–SD), also commonly referred to as Smer, is a left-wing nationalist political party in Slovakia led by the incumbent prime minister Robert Fico.[21]
Direction – Social Democracy Smer – sociálna demokracia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | Smer |
| Leader | Robert Fico |
| Deputy Leaders | See list |
| General Secretary | Marián Saloň |
| Founder | Robert Fico |
| Founded | 8 November 1999 (1999-11-08) |
| Split from | Party of the Democratic Left |
| Headquarters | Súmračná 3263/25, 82102 Bratislava |
| Youth wing | Young Social Democrats |
| Membership (2022) |  13,095[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[14] to left-wing[15][16] |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists (suspended)[17] |
| International affiliation | |
| European Parliament group | Non-Inscrits[18] |
| Colours | |
| Slogan | "Stability, order and social security" (2023)[19] |
| National Council | 42 / 150 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 14 |
| Regional governors[20] | 1 / 8 |
| Regional deputies[lower-alpha 1][20] | 50 / 419 |
| Mayors[lower-alpha 1][20] | 516 / 2,904 |
| Local councillors[lower-alpha 1][20] | 2,364 / 20,462 |
| Website | |
| strana-smer | |
Founded by Fico in 1999 as a split from the post-communist Party of the Democratic Left, Smer initially defined itself as the Third Way party.[22] It adopted the epithet Social Democracy after merging with several minor center-left parties in 2005.[23] It dominated Slovak politics from 2006 to 2020, leading two coalition governments (2006–2010, 2016–2020) and one single-party government (2012–2016). During its 12 years in charge it continued the European integration of Slovakia, lifted some economic-liberal reforms of the previous center-right governments and introduced various social welfare measures.[24] Smer-led governments have been associated with numerous political corruption scandals, and have been accused by opponents to have resulted in a deterioration of the rule of law in Slovakia.[25][26][27][28][29]
After the 2020 parliamentary election (Smer's return to the opposition), Slovak authorities investigated a number of corruption-related crimes involving multiple Smer politicians and individuals reportedly linked to the party, with a total of 42 of them being convicted.[30][31][32][33][34] At the party congress in July 2020, following a major internal split (which resulted in the founding of a new party named Voice – Social Democracy, also known as Hlas–SD), Fico announced a shift to "the rustic social democracy that perceives the specifics of Slovak reality".[35][36] Post-2020 Smer holds stances that have been described as nationalist, populist and Russophilic.[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]
In 2023, Smer won the parliamentary election with 23% of the vote and 42 seats in the National Council and subsequently formed the Fourth cabinet of Robert Fico.[44]