| Description | Left-of-center, social democratic party which profiled itself centrist to center-right as SMER (1999-2005). Party turned left when it merged with the Social Democratic Party of Slovakia on January 1, 2005, calling the new party SMER – sociálna demokracia (SMER-SD). SMER-SD ruled Slovakia, with the exception of a 20-month break in the government of Iveta Radičová, in various coalition combinations from 2006 to date. Party has been identified closely with former Communist Party leader and Prime Minister Robert Fico, who founded the party and has led it since 2002. Party suffered a severe setback when its popular deputy chairman Peter Pellegrini departed in April 2020 to launch his own center-left party HLAS - social democracy (HLAS-SD) on September 11, 2020. |
