The Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats ( bg, партия Български социалдемократи, ''Partiya Balgarski Sotsialdemokrati'', PBSD) is a social-democratic

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 ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It is a member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations ...

and the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social democratic and progressive European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. ...

History

The party was launched on 26 November 1989 under the name Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (United). It sees itself as the historical successor to the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party of 1894. In January 1990 it adopted the name Bulgarian Social Democratic Party and in February Petar Dertliev was elected chairman. Subsequently, the party joined the Union of Democratic Forces. After a rift in the relations the BSDP left the Union and founded the "SDS-Centre" along with the movement Ekoglasnost. The coalition received 3.2% of the vote in the legislative elections in 1991 and failed to enter the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

. Until 1994 BSDP participated in the coalition "Democratic Alternative for the Republic", which also failed to overcome the 4% threshold in the elections in the 1994 election. Since 1995 a process of returning to the SDS began and so the party contested the next elections in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

within the

United Democratic Forces The United Democratic Forces ( bg, Обединени Демократични Сили, ОДС/ODS) were a center-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria, led by the Union of Democratic Forces. Members of the coalition 1997 * Union of Democrati ...

. Since autumn 1997 a part of the leadership seek a rapprochement with other social-democratic parties in Bulgaria. In March 1998 the Movement for Social Humanism separated from the party. An extraordinary party congress at the end of 1998 caused another split. A right wing, dissatisfied with the policies pursued by Dertlijev, split from the party and held the ties with the

. The BSDP entered the

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ...

Coalition for Bulgaria The BSP for Bulgaria ( bg, БСП за България, BSP za Bŭlgariya), or the Coalition for Bulgaria ( bg, Коалиция за България, Koalitsiya za Bŭlgariya) until 2017, is a left-wing electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by t ...

and in 2002, changed its name to Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats. Georgi Anastasov, the party leader gained a seat in the

in 2001 and he has been reelected ever since.

List of chairmen

* Atanas Moskov — 1989–1990 * Petar Dertliev — 1990–1998 * Peter Agov — 1998–2001 * Georgi Anastasov — 2001 – (unknown) * Aleksandra Hristova – 2016–today

References

External links

Official website
1989 establishments in Bulgaria Full member parties of the Socialist International Parties related to the Party of European Socialists Political parties established in 1989 Social democratic parties in Bulgaria Social democratic parties in Europe {{Europe-socialist-party-stub