Freedom Movement Gibanje Svoboda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | GS |
| Chairman | Robert Golob |
| General Secretary | Matej Grah |
| Vice Chairman | Sara Žibrat Matej Arčon Klemen Boštjančič |
| Founder | Jure Leben Robert Golob |
| Founded | 8 May 2021 (2021-05-08); 3 years ago (original form) 26 January 2022 (2022-01-26); 2 years ago (current form) |
| Merger of | |
| Preceded by | Green Actions Party |
| Headquarters | Miklošičeva ulica 7,Ljubljana |
| Youth wing | Freedom Movement Youth |
| Membership(2022) |  3,000[1] |
| Ideology | Social liberalism Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre[2] tocentre-left |
| European affiliation | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| European Parliament group | Renew Europe |
| Colours |
|
| National Assembly | 39 / 90 |
| European Parliament | 2 / 9 |
| Mayors | 3 / 212 |
| Municipal council | 404 / 2,750 |
| Website | |
| gibanjesvoboda.si | |
TheFreedom Movement (Slovene:Gibanje Svoboda,GS) is asocial-liberalpolitical party in Slovenia. It was founded on 26 January 2022, as the successor of the extraparliamentaryGreen Actions Party (Slovene:Stranka Zelenih Dejanj,Z.DEJ), which was founded on 8 May 2021.
In its first parliamentary election, the party placed first, obtaining 41 of the 90 seats in theNational Assembly,[3] which is a record for a single party in the history of independent Slovenia. Its chairman Robert Golob subsequently becamePrime Minister of Slovenia, heading theGolob Cabinet in coalition with theSocial Democrats andThe Left.[4] Shortly after the elections, theParty of Alenka Bratušek andList of Marjan Šarec merged with the party.[5][6][7]
Jure Leben, the former Minister for the environment in theCabinet of Marjan Šarec, has announced the purpose of establishing a political party in January 2021 in political showStudio City.[8] The party was established on 8 May 2021 and Leben was elected as their first and sole president of the party. The party would look for environmental balance, between industrial progress and preserving the environment.
Jure Leben was elected as the first chairman and Gregor Erbežnik became the vice-chairman.[citation needed] The leadership elected 119 delegates.[9]
The party never received much public support in opinion polling.[10] In January 2022, Leben announced retreat from the party and politics, as he said that he would dedicate his time to his family.
On the 24th of January 2022,Robert Golob, at that time still the Chairman of the board at GEN-I, announced his candidature for the President of the party in decline, its transformation and changing the name to the Freedom Movement.[10]
The congress took place on 26 January 2022,[11] Robert Golob was elected as the president,Urška Klakočar Zupančič as vice-president.Mirta Koželj became the President of the party council.Matej Arčon was elected as general secretary of the party.[12] For the party to protect itself from incited members and hostile takeover attempts, there is a prerequisite for joining the party, which consists of an interview with Robert Golob for every MP candidate[13][14] Unaffiliated MPsJanja Sluga (previouslySMC) andJurij Lep (previouslyDeSUS) also joined the party.[15] After the elections, Golob has said that he is ready to partner withKUL, which is their »natural ally«. On the 1st of February he responded to the joint meeting with the parties ofKUL.[15]
On the 17th of February, the presidents of the Freedom Movement andLIDE had a meeting; both presidents decided that their parties wouldn't participate with a joint electoral list, but there was still a possibility that there could be someone from LIDE to participate on the Freedom Movement list.[16]On Saturday the 19th of March 2022, there was an election convention of the party, at which they represented their program for the elections and their candidacy list,[17] which included some famous names such as former boxerDejan Zavec, journalist ofRTV Slovenija Mojca Šetinc Pašek, Mayor of TržičBorut Sajovic, an expert for Nuclear security Miroslav Gregorič, former rector of theUniversity of LjubljanaIgor Papič and orthopedistDanijel Bešič Loredan.[18]
In the2022 parliamentary elections, the Freedom Movement placed first with 34.5% of the vote and won 41 of the 90 seats in theNational Assembly, defeating theSlovenian Democratic Party and its three-term prime ministerJanez Janša.[19] TheSocial Democrats, another centre-left party, announced that they would join a government led by Golob,[20] in addition toThe Left, giving him a majority in the legislature and making himPrime Minister of Slovenia, an office he assumed on 25 May 2022. In June 2022, theList of Marjan Šarec andParty of Alenka Bratušek voted in favor of merging into the party, which was approved by the Freedom Movement on 27 June. The official merger was scheduled for the first half of July.[21]
After the merger, the party got representatives in theEuropean Parliament via former members of LMŠ,Irena Joveva andKlemen Grošelj.
The Freedom Movement is asocial liberal[22] andpro-European party with acentre-left orientation. As social measures, the party points out publicly available health care and the increase in the number of employees, the reform of the education system and the digitalisation of schools.[23] According to former party chairman Leben, Slovenia should be able to rank among the 20 globally most competitive countries in theWorld Economic Forum criteria.[24]
| Election | Candidate | 1st round | 2nd round | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Popular vote | % of vote | Popular vote | % of vote | |||
| 2022[b] | Milan Brglez | 134,726 | 15.45 (#3) | — | — | Lost |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % of vote | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Robert Golob | 410,769 | 34.45% (#1) | 41 / 90 | New | Coalition |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Irena Joveva | 148,291 | 22,16 (#2) | 2 / 9 | New | RE |
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