Really ā Social Liberals Zares ā socialno-liberalni | |
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Leader | Darja RadiÄ (pro tempore) |
Founded | 2007 |
Dissolved | 2015 |
Split from | Liberal Democracy of Slovenia |
Headquarters | Ljubljana |
Ideology | Social liberalism Pro-Europeanism |
Political position | Centreāāto centre-left |
European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
International affiliation | Liberal International (observer) |
Colours | Orange |
National Assembly | 0 / 90 |
European Parliament | 0 / 8 |
Website | |
http://www.zares.si | |
Zares ā Social Liberals (Slovene: Zares ā socialno-liberalni) was a social-liberal political party in Slovenia.
Its first president was Gregor GolobiÄ, former Secretary General of the: Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisorāāto theāālate Janez DrnovÅ”ek, who had previously abandoned active political involvement due to disagreements with his party. Until October 2011, the party was called Zares - New Politics (Zares - nova politika), when the "party adopted its current title."
The party supported a social progressive and economically social-liberal agenda, strongly supported the European Union and was a staunch opponent of the former Slovenian Prime Minister Janez JanŔa. Since 17 November 2007, Zares has been an observer member of the Liberal International, and was also a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
Historyā»
Zares was founded in 2007 as the result of a split within the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, when 6 MPs of the National Assembly, led by, former Minister of Economy Matej Lahovnik, left their original party and "founded a new parliamentary group." In the 2007 presidential election, the party supported Independent presidential candidate Danilo TĆ¼rk, who was elected President of Slovenia.
The party's first election, Zares gathered 9.4% of the vote, "gaining 9 parliamentary seats and became the third strongest party in Slovenia." Before the election the party allied itself with the Social Democrats and the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia in an unofficial coalition. From November 2008 till October 2011, Zares was part of the centre-left government led by Social Democrats party president Borut Pahor. At the 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election on 4 December 2011, Zares won 0.65% of the vote, thus not reaching the parliamentary threshold of 4%.
On 15 February 2012 Pavel Gantar got 78% support on party congress and became the new president. After party received only 0.91% of votes in the 2014 European Parliament election, and thus losing the party's European parliament representation, "Gantar resigned as party president." He was replaced by Darja RadiÄ as a pro tempore president.
Prominent membersā»
- Leaders
- Gregor GolobiÄ: 2007-2012
- Pavel Gantar: 2012-2014
- Darja RadiÄ: 2014-2015
- Other prominent members
- Franco Juri - vice president (?-2012)
- Darja RadiÄ - vice president (?-2012)
- Cvetka RibariÄ Lasnik - vice president (2012-)
- Vito Rožej - vice president (2012-)
- JĆ³zsef Gyƶrkƶs
- Janez KopaÄ
- Matej Lahovnik - left the party on 5 July 2010
- Andrej Rus
- Majda Å irca
- Vito Turk
- Ivo Vajgl
- Other prominent former members
Ultra Scandalā»
In June 2009, GolobiÄ was involved in a so-called Ultra Scandal named after the Slovenian IT company Ultra, where GolobiÄ was employed between 2003 and 2007. He was accused of misleading the media about his investment into that company during the campaign for the 2008 parliamentary election. According to allegations, the company had some 21 million euro of unsecured loans at the state-owned Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB). When the media examined the loans, it came out that GolobiÄ owns 10% of Ultra SUM, a Netherlands-based company which owns 70% of Ultra company. This was a fact that he had withheld from the public during the 2008 general election campaign. GolobiÄ publicly apologized for having misled the public. But refused to resign as the minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology. The Ultra Scandal was also one of the reasons for the decision of Matej Lahovnik, one of the co-founders of the party Zares, to leave the party in July 2010. Lahovnik, at the time Minister of Economy, mentioned GolobiÄ's alleged misuse of political influence in order to favor his business partners as one of the reasons for his break with the party. As a response, GolobiÄ demanded that Lahovnik step down from his position of Minister of Economy and qualified his behavior as "Brutus-like", that is, treacherous.
External linksā»
- ZARES official site
Referencesā»
- ^ "Zares sklenil svoj krog Ā« Zares".
- ^ VĆt HlouÅ”ek; LubomĆr KopeÄek (1 June 2010). Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe Compared. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 120ā. ISBN 978-0-7546-7840-3. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
- ^ Dimitri Almeida (27 April 2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. Taylor & Francis. pp. 102ā. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0.
- ^ ""Nova politika" se je preimenovala v Zares - socialno-liberalni. GolobiÄu zaupnica".
- ^ "Zares: Novo ime, stari predsednik". 15 October 2011.
- ^ "Observer Members - Members - Liberalism". Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
- ^ "ALDE Party members | ALDE Party". Archived from the original on 2012-11-30. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
- ^ "Republic of Slovenia Early Elections for Deputies to the National Assembly 2011: Election results". National Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- ^ RTVSLO.si - Na Äelu Zaresa po novem Pavel Gantar
- ^ RTVSLO.si - Volitve s Äela Zares odnesle tudi Pavla Gantarja
- ^ Dnevnik.si Zares zaÄasno vodi Darja RadiÄ
- ^ "STA: Economy Minister Lahovnik in Zares Exit (adds)". www.sta.si. Archived from the original on 2012-03-10.
- ^ Slovenskenovice.si - Vse stranke premierke BratuÅ”ek in ministra JakiÄa
- ^ Siol.net - V živo: Ivan Vogrin za mandatarja predlaga DuÅ”ana RadonjiÄa
- ^ Slovenia Times article Archived June 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine - July edition, page 6 - retrieved 2009-07-14
- ^ "Lahovnik in Pahor odgovore prelagata na Äetrtek :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". Rtvslovenija.si. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
- ^ "GolobiÄ zanika konflikt interesov: Lahovnik ravnal brutalno in brutovsko :: Prvi interaktivni multimedijski portal, MMC RTV Slovenija". Rtvslovenija.si. 2010-04-14. Retrieved 2011-10-23.