The SNK European Democrats , is a small liberal conservative

Liberal conservatism

Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...

 political party in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, led by Zdeňka Marková. The first regular chairperson of this party was Jana Hybášková

Jana Hybášková

Jana Hybášková is a Czech politician and diplomat, serving as the Ambassador of the European Union in Iraq . From 2004 to 2009, she was a Member of the European Parliament for the European People's Party...

. It was created in January 2006 by two small Czech parties – SNK Union of Independents

SNK Union of Independents

The SNK Union of Independents , or SNK , was a small political party in Czech Republic, led since May 2007 by Helmut Dohnálek.It...

  led by former Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec

Josef Zieleniec

Doc. Ing. Josef Zieleniec, CSc. is a Czech politician and formerMember of the European Parliament. From 2004, he has been a member ofthe SNK-ED...

 and European Democrats  led by former Mayor of the City of Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 Jan Kasl

Jan Kasl

Jan Kasl is a Czech politician and former Mayor of the City of Prague and one of the leaders of SNK European Democrats.- Biography :...

.

European Democrats

The European Democrats were founded in summer 2002 by former Mayor of the City of Prague Jan Kasl. He resigned on his post in protest at the policy of Civic Democratic Party in Prague's municipal government. It was founded above all as a Prague party (or no more than a party for the bigger cities). In the 2002 elections for Prague's municipal government, the European Democrats reached 15 seats (2nd place) and became the strongest opposition party. In the 2004 Senate elections, ED gained 1 seat (of 27 elected). The party had only ever Jan Kasl as its chairman until it merged with SNK.

Cooperation and Merge

Although these two parties merged in 2006 they had already cooperated in coalition in the 2004 European Parliament Elections. They gained 11 % of the vote and elected three MEPs

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

 – Josef Zieleniec, Jana Hybášková and Tomáš Zatloukal

Tomáš Zatloukal

Tomáš Zatloukal is a Czech politician and Member of the European Parliament with the Union of Independents, part of the European People's Party and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education.He is a substitute for the Committee on Budgets and a member of the Delegation to...

.

In February 2006 these two parties merged after long negotiations about terms of uniting in one new party. The result was that members of European democrats went over to the Union of Independents and this was renamed SNK European democrats. According to uniting treaties between SNK and ED this hasn't any formal chairman. But it was led by Josef Zieleniec as political leader (and primary face of parliament elections although he wasn't candidate) and Jan Kasl as executive vice chairman.

New party claimed itself as an alternative for voters which were tired by main political parties. But because of some tension between former SNK and ED members in new party and missing funds SNK European democrats' campaign in Chamber of Deputies was unsuccessful. They gained 2.1 % of the vote, becoming the first non-parliamentary party.

After heavy failure in 2006 Chamber of Deputies elections was called the Republic assembly (the highest executive body of the party) and new and regular chairwoman was elected Jana Hybášková – one of party's MEPs

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

.

Election results

• 2002 Chamber of Deputies
  Czech legislative election, 2002
  Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 14 and 15 June 2002. The result was a victory for the Czech Social Democratic Party, which won 70 of the 200 seats. Voter turnout was 57.9%.-Results:...
  
  : SNK – 2,78 % – no seat
• 2002 Senate: SNK – 2 seats, ED – no seats
• 2002 Prague's municipal government: SNK – no seats, ED – 15 seats
• 2004 Senate: SNK – 1 seat, ED – 1 seat
• 2004 European Parliament:
  European Parliament election, 2004 (Czech Republic)
  The European Parliament election of 2004 in the Czech Republic was the election of MEP representing Czech Republic constituency for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament. It was part of the wider 2004 European election....
  
   SNK and ED in coalition – 11,02 % – 3 seats
• 2006 Chamber of Deputies
  Czech legislative election, 2006
  Parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on 2 and 3 June 2006.The pre-election campaign was fierce and mostly negative. A major scandal broke out few days before the election. The two largest parties had profited from the divisive campaign – both had obtained the highest percentage...
  
  : 2,1 % – no seat
• 2006 Senate: no seat
• 2008 Senate: no seat

See also

• Liberal conservatism
  Liberal conservatism
  Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
  
  
• Liberalism
• Conservatism
• European People's Party–European Democrats
  European People's Party–European Democrats
  The Group of the European People's Party , abbreviated to EPP Group, is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament...
  
  
• Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
  
  
• Liberalism worldwide
  Liberalism worldwide
  This article gives information on liberalism in diverse countries around the world. It is an overview of parties that adhere more or less to the ideas of political liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world....
  
  
• List of liberal parties

External links

• SNK – European Democrats official site