The Social Democratic Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Social Demòcrata de Catalunya, also ''Partit Socialdemòcrata de Catalunya'', PSDC) 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 political ideology ...

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 north ...

, led by Jaume Casanovas and defining itself as

left liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

, that split from

Democratic Left of Catalonia Democratic Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Democràtica de Catalunya, EDC) was a political party in Catalonia (Spain). EDC was founded in 1975 as the Catalan Liberal Party ( ca, Partit Liberal Català), and ideologically it defined itself as " rad ...

(EDC) in April 1976 over leadership rather than ideological disagreements. The party would join the Spanish Social Democratic Federation of

Francisco Fernández Ordóñez Francisco Fernández Ordóñez (22 June 1930 – 7 August 1992) was a Spanish politician who was the minister of foreign affairs in the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) government of Felipe González from 1985 until shortly before his de ...

and José Ramón Lasuén.

History

The PSDC was founded by members of the

(EDC) leaving the party in April 1976 under Jaume Casanovas, which had been one of EDC's founders and leaders before disagreements over the political leadership of the party resulted in the PSDC's split. The new party was publicly presented on 29 July 1976, and officially registered on 7 March 1977. In May 1977, the party had planned to coalesce into the Union of the Democratic Centre in Catalonia alliance together with the

People's Party of Catalonia The People's Party of Catalonia ( ca, Partit Popular de Catalunya, es, Partido Popular de Cataluña, PP or PPC) is a conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Catalonia. It is the Catalan affiliate of the Spanish People's Party an ...

(PPC) 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 ...

, but the attempt was aborted by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Adolfo Suárez Adolfo Suárez González, 1st Duke of Suárez (; 25 September 1932 – 23 March 2014) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister since the Second Spanish Republic and a key figure in th ...

, who instead enforced an electoral list made of independents and without the involvement of the PPC and the PSDC. As a result, both parties announced that they would not be contesting the election. In March 1978, most party members would leave to join the Union of the Centre of Catalonia, with the remainder of the party joining into a coalition with

Republican Left of Catalonia The Republican Left of Catalonia ( ca, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC; ; generically branded as ) is a Catalan independence movement, pro-Catalan independence, social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Catalonia, p ...

(ERC) 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 Nationalis ...

(FNC) for the March 1979 general election, maintaining the alliance for the April local elections. The PSDC would contest the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and 1988 Catalan regional elections, with little success.

Electoral performance

Parliament of Catalonia

References

{{reflist 1976 establishments in Catalonia Political parties established in 1976 Political parties in Catalonia