United Democrats - Association of Independents

Political party in Czech Republic

The United Democrats - Association of Independents (Czech: Spojení demokraté - Sdružení nezávislých, SD-SN) is a small Czech extra-parliamentary political party, formed from what remained of the European Democrats (Czech: Evropští demokraté) after that party's merger in 2006 with SNK Union of Independents to form SNK European Democrats.

SD-SN has in the past cooperated with the Mayors and Independents in the Czech Senate. For the 2024 European Parliament election, the party is a member of the Stačilo! alliance, together with the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the Czech National Social Party (ČSNS).

Background

The European Democrats were founded in 2002 by Jan Kasl, a former Civic Democrat mayor of Prague. From 2004, this party began cooperating with the SNK Union of Independents, winning 11% of the vote in the 2004 European Parliament election. When the European Democrats merged with SNK Union of Independents to become the SNK European Democrats, the original party was not dissolved due to an ongoing judicial dispute regarding the 2002 local elections in Prague.[citation needed]

Merger and name-change

In January 2006, the European Democrats agreed on a merger with SNK Union of Independents, to become SNK European Democrats; most of the party members left to join the new party.[2]

The remaining party members renamed the party to United Democrats - Association of Independents (SD-SN) later that year. The party subsequently lost all of its Prague city councilors in the 2006 local elections and all of its regional councilors in the 2008 Czech regional elections.

SD-SN ran independently in the 2009 European Parliament election, receiving just 0.06% of the vote and losing its only seat in the European Parliament.

The party did not achieve any further electoral success until 2017, when it nominated Alena Dernerová, Senator since 2010 for S.cz, for the re-run of the 2016 Senate election in Most, which Dernerová won in the first round. In the Senate, Dernerová joined the Mayors and Independents club.

Dernerová failed to hold her mandate in the Czech Senate election, losing in the second round of the election. Since then, the party has begun to move in a conservative and anti-system direction.[citation needed] For the 2024 European Parliament election, the party is running as part of the Stačilo! alliance, together with the Communist Party and ČSNS. Its nominee Ondřej Dostál, a lawyer and former health expert for the Czech Pirate Party, is second on the list.

References

  1. ^ Oficiální stránky SD-SN
  2. ^ "Sdružení nezávislých kandidátů se sloučilo s Evropskými demokraty". Radio Prague International (in Czech). 2005-12-12. Retrieved 2024-03-06.

External links

  • United Democrats - Association of Independents official site
  • v
  • t
  • e
  • Bracketed numbers indicate numbers of seats in the respective chambers.
Chamber of Deputies
2021 (200 seats)
Senate
2022 (81 seats)
European Parliament
2019 (21 seats)
Regional Assemblies
2020 (675 seats)
Other parties
Sources
Chamber of Deputies
Senate
Statistical Office