Liberal Party (, LS) was a political party in Slovakia founded on 28 March 2003 by dissident parliamentarians who split from VladimÃÂr MeÃÂiar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). The party was founded under the name People's Union (ýudová únia) and renamed itself to 'Liberal Party' on 26 March 2007. From 2003 to 2006 the party had MPs in the Slovak Parliament (elected on the HZDS ticket), since 2006 the party is extra-parliamentary. LS runs on a conservative and populist platform.
The party was founded by 11 Movement for a Democratic Slovakia party MPs: Miroslav Abelovský, Jozef Brhel, Jozef Elsner, Ján Gabriel, Ján Mikolaj, Ivan Kià Âo, Gustáv KrajÃÂi, Igor Pinkava, Ladislav Polka, Vojtech TkáÃÂ, Rudolf à ½iak and numerous prominent ex-HZDS members like Peter ChudÃÂk, Peter TomeÃÂek and Oþga Keltoà ¡ová.
The party was first led by Vojtech TkáÃÂ, before Gustáv KrajÃÂi was elected leader in 2004. KrajÃÂàremains the president of the party.
In July 2004, Tkáàresigned from his position of party leader. Oþga Keltoà ¡ová and other deputy leaders resigned as well, citing their opposition to some party members voting differently in the Parliament than agreed upon inside the party.
The party took part in the European Parliament election in 2004 under the name People's Union (ýÃÂ) in coalition with Movement for Democracy (HZD). Together they received 1,69% of votes and therefore no seat in the European Parliament.