Social Democrat Party (Sainte-Chloé)
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Parti Social-Démocrate | |
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| Abbreviation | PSD |
| Leader of Opposition | Jean-Luc Vallette |
| Party Chair | Françoise Dudamel |
| Party President | Charles Bourgent |
| Founder | Claude Bourgent Martin Célestin |
| Founded | 3 May 1961 |
| Merger of | Democratic Party and Socialist Party |
| Newspaper | Liberté (Democrat) L'égalité pour Tous (Socialist) |
| Membership (2020) |  356,510 |
| Ideology | Social liberalism Secularism Democratic: Economic liberalism Neoliberalism Socialist: Social Democracy Democratic socialism |
| Political position | Centre-left (From Centre to Left) |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | "Libération de la Servitude" (Freedom from Slavery) |
| Chamber of Commons | 66 / 171 |
| Senate | 8 / 65 |
| Provincial Governments | 249 / 643 |
The Social Democratic Party (Gaullican: Parti Social-Démocrate), often abbreviated as the PSD, is a centre-left political party in Sainte-Chloé. It is one of Sainte-Chloé's two major parties alongside with its main rival, the Catholic Labour Party. It is and has historically been the opposition party in Sainte-Chloé's two-party system.
Founded in 1961 as a merger between the Democratic Party and Socialist Party to act as a united front against the Catholic Labour Party, the Social Democratic Party marked itself from early on as an oppositional party in nature, and has remained from then the only party able to challenge the Catholic Democratic Party in Chloéois politics. The party was able to first come into power in 1965 after the sugar magnates forced the President to call for snap elections; however, the Party failed to solve the economic problems of the Sugar Crash, and were voted out of government in 1969. Regaining control of the government in 1977, they also suffered under the economic crisis of 1980 and were again voted out. They would not regain the government until 1997, which they would hold until 2008, when the great recession led to snap elections that would oust the government. In 2020, Henri Montas would lead the party to a 246 day government, before economic upheaval and civil unrest forced snap elections of 2021, again pushing the Social Democrats out of power. Currently, the PSD is the only opposition party in the Chloéois Parliament, holding a total of 66 seats in the Chamber of Commons and 8 out of 28 elected seats in the Senate.
The party's primary identity is that of opposition to the Catholic Labour Party, although it also has ideological influences as well. The party is united in promoting socially liberal policies, such as the legalization of abortion and recognition of same-sex marriage, and is also committed to fully secularizing the country. In addition, the party is not as pro-Gaullican as PCT and rather tends to be more generally globalist, in additon to supporting increased cooperation with the other countries of the Asterias or the AIS. However, the party still retains economic divisions based around the original two parties, and is divided between the interests of the Democratic wing of the Party, which favours economic liberalism, privatisation of the economy, deregulation and the free market, and the Socialist wing of the party, which seeks to promote social democracy and eventually see the country's transition to democratic socialism. This historically has resulted in inner party conflict and leadership crises. Historically, the two factions have compromised, with Presidential candidates taken from the Democratic wing and Premiers from the Socialist wing. The party mostly draws its support from the wealthy elite, who support Democratic candidates, while some secular trade unions or socially liberal groups support socialist candidates.
Historically, the party has been greatly overshadowed by the Catholic Labour Party, and has only controlled a government for 19 years of the Republic's history, in comparison to 47 years of the Catholic Labour Party. 3 out of the country's 9 Presidents were from the PSD, but none ever served more than one term, whereas the Catholic Labour Party has had three Presidents serve two terms. This had led to the perception that it is a "failed party", In addition, the PSD historically has recieved the blame for being responsible for mismanaging the country's financial crises throughout the history of the Republic, which is partially attributed to its divided economic nature. Its divided economic nature has also led to mixed reactions on an international scale, with some socialist or liberal groups refusing to align with them on account of what political philosopher Charles Devoix called an "inherent contradiction in the very heart of the party".