Democratic Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Democràtica de Catalunya, EDC) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

). EDC was founded in 1975 as the Catalan Liberal Party ( ca, Partit Liberal Català), and ideologically it defined itself as " radical liberal" and

federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

. It was merged into

Democratic Convergence of Catalonia The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia ( ca, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya; , CDC), frequently shortened as Convergence ( ca, Convergència; ) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain), currently still exis ...

(CDC) on 27 June 1978.

History

EDC was initially known as the Catalan Liberal Party (PLC) and was a member of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

. The PLC/EDC was also a part of the Coordinating Commission of Political Forces of Catalonia, the main pro-democracy opposition body of

at the time. The original ideology of the group was radical liberalism, including

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments ( provincial, state, cantonal, territorial, or other sub-unit governments) in a single ...

, co-management and the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

of large enterprises. In April 1976 a sector led by Jaume Casanovas split from the party and founded the Social Democratic Party of Catalonia (PSDC). On 24 September 1976, together with the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) * People's Democratic Party (Chile) *People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

, the Social-Liberal Coalition was established. In January 1977, the party signed a political alliance with

(CDC), which ahead of the

1977 Spanish general election The 1977 Spanish general election was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1977, to elect the Spanish Cortes of the Kingdom of Spain. All 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies were up for election, as well as all 207 seats in the Senate. It was the first ...

would transform into the

Democratic Pact for Catalonia The Democratic Pact for Catalonia ( ca, Pacte Democràtic per Catalunya, PDC or PDpC) was a Catalan electoral alliance established in May 1977 ahead of the Spanish Congress of Deputies 15 June election. It ran on a political platform emphasizing ...

(PDC) coalition for the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

, together with CDC, the

Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping Socialist Party of Catalonia–Regrouping ( ca, Partit Socialista de Catalunya–Reagrupament, PSC–R) was a political party in Catalonia, Spain. The PSC–R was founded in 1976 as a continuation of the Socialist and Democratic Regrouping of C ...

(PSC–R) and the

National Front of Catalonia The National Front of Catalonia ( Catalan: ''Front Nacional de Catalunya'', FNC) was a Catalan separatist party which was active between 1940 and 1990. The FNC was created in 1940 by former members of the Estat Català and the Catalan National ...

(FNC). The party would secure two seats out of the eleven won by the alliance, which were occupied by Ramón Trías Fargas and Maciá Alavedra, both for the Barcelona constituency. For the concurrent

Spanish Senate The Senate ( es, Senado) is the upper house of the Cortes Generales, which along with the Congress of Deputies – the lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palace of the Senate in Madrid. T ...

election, EDC joined the Democracy and Catalonia coalition, comprising all four PDC parties together with the Catalan Centre (CC) and the

Democratic Union of Catalonia The Democratic Union of Catalonia ( ca, Unió Democràtica de Catalunya; , UDC), frequently shortened as Union ( ca, Unió; ), was a regionalist, Christian-democratic political party in the Catalonia region of Spain existing between 1931 and 2017 ...

(UDC), which won two senators, although none was for EDC. In December 1977, a group of party members left the party to found the Catalan Association of the Liberal Left, which would end up joining

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a pro-Catalan independence, social-democratic political party in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia, with a presence also ...

(ERC) in August 1978. The rest of the party would be merged into CDC in June 1978.

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

Nationwide

Regional breakdown

References

{{Authority control 1975 establishments in Catalonia 1978 disestablishments in Catalonia Catalan nationalist parties Defunct political parties in Catalonia Liberal parties in Spain Political parties established in 1975 Political parties disestablished in 1978 Radical parties