Change from Below, Democratic Union of Slovakia (sometimes translated as Change from the Bottom or Change from the Bottom Up; , ZZ, DÚ), in the years 2000—2002 Liberal Democratic Union (abbreviation LDÚ), and 2002—2010 Democratic Union of Slovakia (abbreviation DÚ), is a non-parliamentary political party in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

since 2000. Its chairman

Ján Budaj Ján Budaj (born 10 February 1952) is a Slovak politician and environmental activist. He is mostly known by his participation in the Velvet Revolution. He served as the Minister of Environment from 21 March 2020, in the cabinets of Igor Matovič a ...

is a member of the

National Council of the Slovak Republic The National Council of the Slovak Republic (, abbreviated to ''NR SR'') is the national parliament of Slovakia. It is unicameralism, unicameral and consists of 150 members, who are elected by universal suffrage under proportional representation ...

elected on the

OĽaNO Slovakia (), known as Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (, OĽANO) until 2023, is a populist political party in Slovakia. Founded in 2011 by former businessman Igor Matovič, the party champions anti-corruption, anti-elitist and an ...

party's list of candidates.

Party leadership

– chairman

Key members of the party

* Juraj Smatana – teacher, popular blogger and civic activist. Member of the Regional Office of the

Trenčín Region The Trenčín Region (, ; ; ) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. It consists of nine districts ('' okresy''). The region was established in 1996: previously it had been a part of the West Slovak Region () and partly the Central S ...

elected as the

Považská Bystrica District Považská Bystrica District (, ; ) is a district in the Trenčín Region of western Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, ...

History

The Democratic Union of Slovakia was founded by a group of members of the Democratic Union, dissatisfied with the merger of the Democratic Union into the

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arkan ...

. The group was led by Ján Budaj, who was elected chairman of the party on the founding republican committee on November 4, 2000. The party was registered with the Ministry of the Interior on September 7, 2000, under the original name of the Liberal Democratic Union. In 2002, the party was renamed to a name almost identical to the name of the defunct party "Democratic Union" (see

Democratic Union of Slovakia The Democratic Union of Slovakia (, DEÚS) was a political party in Slovakia led by Jozef Moravčík. History The party was created on 23 April 1994 by a merger of and the . In the 1994 Slovak parliamentary election, parliamentary elections in ...

(1994) / DEÚS and Democratic Union / DÚ).

Election results

* 2002 parliamentary election - the party ran for election in coalition with the Democratic Party. Just before the elections, however, the Democratic Party withdrew the candidate with a recommendation for its supporters to elect the

, and thus the Democratic Union of Slovakia dropped out of the election competition without its own intervention. *

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

- the party achieved an electoral gain of 0.19% of the vote and did not get into the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. * 2002 parliamentary election - party politicians took part in the elections for the candidate of the Free Forum, which did not get into parliament. * 2012 parliamentary election - the party achieved an electoral gain of 1.29% and did not get into the National Counci. * 2016 parliamentary election - the party as an independent subject did not run for parliamentary elections, but after an agreement with the

Ordinary People and Independent Personalities Slovakia (), known as Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (, OĽANO) until 2023, is a populist political party in Slovakia. Founded in 2011 by former businessman Igor Matovič, the party champions anti-corruption, anti-elitist and ...

movement.

Voting preferences

As the party has not run for the National Council of the Slovak Republic independently since 2012, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic does not record its preferences.

Chairman

* since 2000 Ján Budaj

Notes

References

External links

Official site

Entry in the register of pages of the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic
{{Political parties in Slovakia Liberal conservative parties in Slovakia Politics of Slovakia 2000 establishments in Slovakia Political parties established in 2000