= Smer - SD = '''Smer - SD''' (''Smer - sociálna demokracia'', Direction - Social Democracy) is a [[Slovakia/PoliticalParties|political party]] in [[Slovakia/Democratization#Slovak_Republic|Slovakia]]. It was formerly named '''Smer''' and continues to be referred to as such. <> ---- == Platform == ---- == History == In 1999, [[Slovakia/RobertFico|Fico]] led a small faction from the [[Slovakia/PartyOfTheDemocraticLeft|SDĽ]] to found a new party named '''Smer'''. His personal popularity brought a great deal of attention. The party soon adopted the epithet '''Third Way''' (as in ''Smer (tretia cesta)''). In 2005, the party merged with SDĽ, '''Social Democratic Alternative''' (''Sociálnodemokratická alternatíva''), and [[Slovakia/SocialDemocraticParty|SDP]]. The party was renamed officially to '''Smer - SD''' to reflect this merger. [[Slovakia/HlasSD|Hlas - SD]] broke away from the party in 2020. ---- == Leadership == ||'''Leaders''' ||'''Term''' || ||[[Slovakia/RobertFico|Robert Fico]]||1999 - || ---- CategoryRicottone