Party of Socialists and Democrats

Party of Socialists and Democrats
Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici
Leader Paride Andreoli
Founded 18 February 2005
Merger of PSS and PD
Headquarters Via Ordelaffi, 46 - Borgo Maggiore
Youth wing Area Socialist Youth of San Marino
Ideology Social democracy
Political position Centre-left
International affiliation Socialist international
European affiliation Party of European Socialists
Official colours Red, Blue
Grand and General Council
18 / 60
Website
www.socialistiedemocratici.sm
Politics of San Marino
Political parties
Elections

The Party of Socialists and Democrats (Italian: Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici, PSD) is a centre-left, social-democratic political party in San Marino. It is a member of the Socialist International and its current-day Italian counterpart is the Democratic Party.

It was formed in 2005 by a merger of the Sammarinese Socialist Party (PSS), the oldest political party in the country, and the Party of Democrats (PD). At the party's formation it had 27 of 60 seats in the Grand and General Council, which was reduced to 20 in the 2006 general election. The PSS long governed as the junior partner in a coalition with the Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party, while PD had its origins in the Sammarinese Communist Party.

The merger of the two parties provoked the exit of the centrist wing of PSS, which launched the New Socialist Party and of the socialist wing of PD, which formed the Left Party and joined the Sammarinese Communist Refoundation into forming the new United Left political coalition, while 2 other splinters, led by Fabio Berardi and Nadia Ottaviani, both members of the Grand and General Council, who considered the party to be too left-wing, split in September 2008 to form the Arengo and Freedom party.

In the 2006 general election PSD won 31.8 % of the vote and 20 out of 60 seats and governed in coalition from 2006-2008 with the Popular Alliance and United Left until tensions between the latter two caused the coalition to disintegrate.

For the 2008 general election the PSD allowed the smaller Sammarinese for Freedom party run as part of its electoral list and was part of the Reforms and Freedom electoral coalition which won 25 seats out of 60 in the Grand and General Council gaining 45.78% of the national vote but failed to gain a governmental majority and as a result the Party of Socialists and Democrats which itself gained 18 seats (a few of which went to Sammarinese for Freedom) out of the 25 the coalition gained and 31.96% of the national vote, as part of the coalition, is now part of the official opposition to the new government of the centre-right coalition of Pact for San Marino.

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