In Slovakia a party's seats in parliament are notable not only for how many there are but also for where they are located within the parliamentary chamber. How MPs choose to arrange seating indicates a great deal about how those MPs expect parliament to function. During the communist era, MPs were seated in parliament according to alphabetical order. After the 1990 elections, seats were grouped according to party and parties were ranged from largest to smallest. After the 1994 elections, seating arrangement continued according to party size but within blocs representing the governing coalition and the opposition. Simultaneous with these changes, Slovakia's parliament as a whole has changed from an environment where party membership could be ignored to one where party membership played a decisive role. As with seating, party position in parliament has subsequently been shaped by sharp divisions along government-opposition lines. This paper documents these changes by focusing on three important aspects of Slovakia's PPGs: their institutional framework, their internal organization and cohesion, and their position within party-as-a-whole, including both the external party organization and the party in government.
