Liberal Democracy of Slovenia or LDS (Slovenian: 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. It is now the third-largest parliamentary party.
In 2007, 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.
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