Slovenská Demokratická koalícia
Slovenská Demokratieická koalícia (SDK, German Slovak Democratic Coalition ) was a political party in Slovakia between 1998 and 2002.
history
The SDK was founded on July 3, 1997 as an electoral coalition. It emerged from five parties: Demokratická únia (Democratic Union, DÚ), Kresťanskodemokratické hnutie (Christian-Democratic Movement, KDH), Demokratická strana (Democratic Party, DS), Sociálnodemokratická strana Slovenska (Social Democratic Party of Slovakia, SDSS) and Strana zelených na Slovensku (Party of the Greens in Slovakia, SZS). This cooperation arose partly after the events of the “prevented” referendum in May 1997 , but also to unite the opposition parties, in contrast to the ruling HZDS .
In response to this coalition, the government headed by HZDS passed a law in May 1998 that in fact prevented the participation of coalitions (according to the previous electoral law, the SDK would need 10% of the votes, now it would have at least 25% to enter parliament). As the threshold of 5% still applied to individual parties, the coalition was converted into a party with 150 members (the number of seats in the National Council ), although the members also had to resign from their original parties. Mikuláš Dzurinda was elected chairman at the first party congress in Trnava on July 4, 1998 .
In the parliamentary elections in September 1998 the HZDS won with 27% of the votes, but the SDK was able to move in as the second strongest force with 26.33% and was able to form a new government. This is how the SDK- SDĽ - SMK - SOP coalition came into being with a majority of 93 of the 150 seats in parliament. The Prime Minister was Mikuláš Dzurinda ( Dzurinda I government , so-called “government of the turn” according to the SDK's election slogan).
The party officially ceased to exist in June 2002, shortly before the 2002 elections ; however, it was met in 2000 when some of the former members founded the SDKÚ party .