While Slovakia’s party politics hosts a rich tradition of populism and anti-establishment mobilization, Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) movement is its first successful anti-party. OĽaNO is an anti-party in that it refuses both political party as an organizational form of the political activity (party organization) and the role of parties in political process and representation (party democracy/government). Instead, the movement defines itself as a platform for independent candidates to run for parliament (in an environment that prevents them doing so individually), thus, paradoxically, performing an electoral role of the party. While being the electoral party, in organizational terms it has been managing to evade party-like arrangement by avoiding internal party democracy, replacing it with the authority of a single leader and reducing the membership in the movement to the four members. Differently put, in terms of the three faces of party organization OĽaNO strictly refuses the party on the ground (membership organization) and, therefore, by extension also the party in the central office. It, however, considers party in public office as useful – or, indeed, inevitable – means of exerting a leverage and checking on the dominant, misbehaving political parties by the non-party. In their understanding the "public office" proceedings just ought not to be organized on the party-political principle. Policy-wise, any issue or policy can easily become or cease to be relevant and central as soon as it pertains to and serves the purpose of the anti-party and anti-establishment drive. That said, any issue or policy – except for the basic anti-party tropes – is therefore secondary and non-definitory regarding OľaNO's "political program.” The goal of the case study is to inquiry into the determinants of success of such political appeal in Slovakia and the prospect for its duration in the country’s party system.
