The Social Democratic Party (, PSD) is the largest political party in Romania. It is also the largest social democratic political party in the country. It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election.

It is a member of the Progressive Alliance (PA), which was founded in 2013, Socialist International (SI), and the Party of European Socialists (PES). As of 2015, the PSD had 530,000 members.

PSD traces its origins to the Democratic Front of National Salvation (FDSN), a leftist breakaway group established in 1992 from the centre-left National Salvation Front (FSN) established after 1989. In 1993, this merged with three other parties to become the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (, PDSR), also translated as the Social Democracy Party of Romania. The present name was adopted after a merger with the smaller Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR) in 2001.

Since its formation, it has always been one of the two dominant parties of the country. The PDSR governed Romania from 1992 to 1996, while the PSDR was a junior coalition partner between 1996 and 2000. The merged PSD was the senior party in the coalitions governing from 2000 to 2004, and from March 2014 to November 2015, as well as one of the main coalition partners between December 2008 and October 2009 (with the Democratic Liberal Party, PDL) and again between May 2012 and March 2014 (as part of the Social Liberal Union, USL). PSD left government after former prime minister, Victor Ponta resigned in November 2015, only for PSD to return as the senior governing party in January 2017, shortly after it achieved a major victory in the 2016 Romanian parliamentary election. The party remained in power at governmental level until 2019, before being voted down in the parliament and then endorsing a PNL minority government between 2019 and 2020. Subsequently, it entered opposition between 2020 and 2021, before eventually returning to government within the CNR coalition in late 2021.

Party founder Ion Iliescu is the only PSD candidate to become President of Romania, he served in office from the 1989 to 1996, and again from 2000 to 2004.

Currently, PSD remains the largest party in the Parliament of Romania with initially 36 seats in the Senate of Romania and 86 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (as obtained at the 2024 Romanian parliamentary election), it also has the largest number of mayors, as well as the second largest number of local and county councillors and county presidents (after PNL), remaining the biggest and most influential political force in the country to the present day.

History

Following the 27–29 May 1992 Convention of the National Salvation Front (, FSN) when Petre Roman became President of the Party, former Party Leader Ion Iliescu and his group of supporters withdrew from FSN and founded the Democratic National Salvation Front (, FDSN) while the rest of FSN was renamed as the Democratic Party (Romanian: Partidul Democrat) in May 1993.

During its first National Conference on the 28th of June 1992, FDSN decided on endorsing Ion Iliescu in the 1992 Romanian general election, which they later won and went on to govern Romania until 1996. On 10 July 1993, it took the name of Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) upon merger with the Romanian Socialist Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Cooperative Party.

From 1992 to 1996, the PDSR ruled in coalition with the Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) and Greater Romania Party (PRM), and the left-wing Socialist Party of Labour (PSM), nicknamed by the Press as the Red Quadrilateral. The PUNR had ministers in the cabinet chaired by Nicolae Văcăroiu from March 1992 to September 1996. The PRM was not present at the cabinet-level but was given some posts in the state administration but which it retracted when it left the coalition in 1995.

PDSR went into opposition after the 1996 Romanian general election, which was won by the right-wing coalition Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR).

After four years of governmental turmoil and economic downfall, poorly managed by the crumbling CDR, saw PDSR making a fulminant comeback, winning the 2000 Romanian general election, this time in a coalition named the Social Democratic Pole of Romania (PDSR) along with the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR, who was part of the government from 1996 to 2000, as a member of the Social Democratic Union, now led by Alexandru Athanasiu) and the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR). The PSDR merged with PDSR on 16 June 2001, and the resulting party took the PSD name, with PDSR/PSD leader Adrian Năstase becoming prime minister. The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) was also invited by both Athanasiu and Năstase to join the new PSD, but PD president Traian Băsescu refused to take part in the merger. A controversial figure due to the corruption scandals in which he and his party were involved, Năstase is still regarded by both admirers and rivals (including his archrival Traian Băsescu), as the best and most efficient Romanian post-communist Prime Minister, being praised for his efforts of Euro-Atlantic integration of Romania and for the stabilization and modernization of the Romanian economy.

In November 2004, Adrian Năstase, the PSD candidate and incumbent Prime Minister of Romania, won the first round of the presidential elections but did not have a majority and had to go to a second round of voting, which he narrowly lost to Traian Băsescu of the opposition Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), who became Romania's 4th president. In the 2004 Romanian general election, the PSD gained the largest share of the vote but because it did not have a majority, the other parties that managed to enter parliament, UDMR/RMDSZ and PUR, abandoned their respective pre-electoral agreements with the PSD and joined the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), mainly at the pressure of Băsescu. Mircea Geoană was elected president of the party in April 2005 by delegates at a PSD Party Congress held in Bucharest. His victory represented a surprise defeat for Iliescu, who was expected to defeat Geoană with ease. On 17 April 2008, the PSD and the PC announced they would form a political alliance for the 2008 Romanian local elections.

In February 2010, the Congress elected Victor Ponta as president after Geoană lost the 2009 Romanian presidential election. On 5 February 2011, the PSD formed a political alliance known as the Social Liberal Union (USL) with the PC and the National Liberal Party (PNL). The USL was disbanded on 25 February 2014 with exit of the PNL, which entered the opposition.

In July 2015, Liviu Dragnea was elected by the Congress of the PSD as the new president of the party, with 97% of the votes from the members. He was elected as leader after the former prime minister Victor Ponta stepped down on 12 July 2015 following charges of corruption that were later dropped. On 12 April 2019, the PSD was suspended from the Party of European Socialists (PES) following concerns about judicial reforms of the Dăncilă Cabinet. In May 2019, after Liviu Dragnea's jailing, Viorica Dăncilă was elected by the Congress of the PSD as the new president of the party.

After being ousted from power in October 2019, the PSD also lost the 2019 Romanian presidential election. Such decline sent shockwase across the European Union (EU), especially the PES, as it resulted in their loss of power within von der Leyen Commission. Nonetheless, Daniel Hegedüs posited that this could be a win for both the PES and the wider European left, as the PES would regain credibility because "mounting authoritarianism in Hungary and Poland has suffered under the burden of PSD's rule-of-law record". In addition, Hegedüs noted the fact that this could represent another chance for the PSD to reform itself and change its ways.

In August 2020, Marcel Ciolacu became president of the party (after having previously served for this position only as ad interim between November 2019 and August 2020). During the same month, the PSD was willing to vote a motion of no confidence against the second Orban cabinet. Shortly after December 2020, while still the largest party in the wake of the 2020 Romanian legislative election, the PSD suffered significant political capital losses (as they previously did in the 2020 Romanian local elections as well) given the chaotic and negative governmental activity the party was responsible for during the former legislature (more specifically during the years 2017 and 2019), yet remained the biggest parliamentary opposition well up until the end of 2021.

During the 2021 Romanian political crisis, the PSD was again willing to have such a vote, this time against the Cîțu Cabinet, which it subsequently did, thereby contributing to its final dismissal. In November 2021, successful negotiations with the PNL led the PSD closer to returning government in the incumbent Ciucă Cabinet within a grand coalition government known as the National Coalition for Romania (or CNR for short). The PSD is still governing Romania as of early 2022, albeit with major tensions in the said grand coalition. The coalition has been described as authoritarian conservative.

In November 2022, the PSD agreed with the Moldovan European Social Democratic Party (PSDE) to begin a strategic partnership.

Predecessors and successors

Party splits Alliance for Romania (1997) National Union for the Progress of Romania (2010) Romanian Social Party (2015), Succeeded by Prahova in Action Party (2020), then by Romania in Action Party (2023) United Romania Party (2015) PRO Romania (2018) Romanian Nationhood Party (2019) Alliance for the Homeland (2023)

Absorbed parties Republican Party (1993)1 Cooperative Party (1993)1 Romanian Socialist Democratic Party (1993)1 Party of Social Solidarity (1994)1 Romanian Social Democratic Party (2001)2 Socialist Party of Labour (2003) Socialist Party of National Renaissance (2003)

Notes 1 After the merger, the party changed its name from the Democratic National Salvation Front (FDSN) to the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR).

2 After the merger, the party changed its name from the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) to the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Ideology and platform

Like its counterpart national-level members of the Party of European Socialists (PES), the PSD has a centre-left outlook and has been described as governing as centre-left, but has also been described as pragmatic, owing to its syncretic politics. The party has been described as social democratic, socially conservative, economically patriotic, economically liberal, left-wing nationalist, and left-wing populist. The PSD was formed as a result of the merger of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR), which had an internationalist social-democratic ideology, with the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR), whose governance was marked by a combination of social democracy, democratic socialism, labourism, pragmatism, left-wing populism, and nationalism. The 2003 absorption of the Socialist Party of Labour (PSM) and the Socialist Party of the National Renaissance (PSRN) led to the strengthening of the left-wing nationalist component within the party. Until 2021 unlike the majority of Western European PES party members and as other like-minded centre-left, social democratic parties in Central and Eastern European post-communism, it has taken a more soft Eurosceptic outlook, though it is neutral in regards to European integration. The PSD stated that it endorses EU and NATO membership. The party is more conservative than PES when it comes to social issues, reflecting the country's social-conservative outlook, including its centre-right counterpart, the National Liberal Party (PNL).