Direction – Social Democracy
Sign in to saveAlso known as SMER-Sociálna demokracia, SMER-Socialna demokracia
Slovak political party
Key facts
- Leader
- Robert Fico
- Deputy leaders
- See list Ľuboš Blaha Juraj Blanár Erik Kaliňák Ladislav Kamenický Richard Takáč
- General secretary
- Marián Saloň
- Mep leader
- Monika Beňová
- 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 2024
- 13,540
- Ideology
- Social democracy Left-wing populism Left-wing nationalism Social conservatism
- Political position
- Centre-left to left-wing
- European affiliation
- Party of European Socialists (2009–2025)
- European parliament group
- S&D (2004–2023), Non-Inscrits (since 2023)
- International affiliation
- Socialist International , Progressive Alliance (formerly)
- Colours
- Red Navy blue
- Slogan
- Stability, order and social security (2023)
- National council
- 42 / 150
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- political party
- Country
- Slovakia
- Headquarters
- Bratislava
- Chairperson
- Robert Fico
- Official website
- www.strana-smer.sk
- Political ideology
- pro-Europeanism
Show 12 more facts
- inception
- 1999-11-08
- topic's main category
- Category:Direction – Social Democracy
- member count
- 16167
- member of
- Progressive Alliance
- native label
- Smer — sociálna demokracia
- member category
- Category:Direction – Social Democracy politicians
- political alignment
- left-wing
- sRGB color hex triplet
- D82222
- Commons category
- SMER-SD
- email address
- mailto:[email protected]
- number of seats in assembly
- 5
- social media followers
- 100000
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Direction – Social Democracy (Slovak: Smer – sociálna demokracia), also commonly referred to as Smer, is a left-wing populist and left-wing nationalist political party in Slovakia led by its founder and incumbent prime minister, Robert Fico. The party identifies as social-democratic, and was described as a combination of "leftist economics and nationalist appeal".
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. It incorporated ‘Social Democracy’ into its name after merging with several minor centre-left parties in 2005. It has dominated Slovak politics since 2006, leading three coalition governments (2006–2010, 2016–2020, 2023–present) and one single-party government (2012–2016). During its time in power, it continued the European integration of Slovakia, reversed some economically liberal reforms implemented by previous centre-right governments and introduced various social welfare measures. Smer-led governments have been associated with numerous political corruption scandals.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Direction – Social Democracy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.