Democratic Party of Moldova

The European Social Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Social Democrat European, PSDE) is a centre-left, populist social-democratic political party in Moldova. Established in 1997, the party holds pro-European views, and is an associate member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) and a full member of the Socialist International. According to its statute, the PSDE pleads that Moldova is an independent, sovereign, and democratic state, based on law, and integrated in the united family of European democracies.Statute PDM
/ref> Reflecting former leader Marian Lupu's views, but also the strong influence of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, the party is more conservative on social issues, such as LGBT rights.

History

The party was established on 8 February 1997 as the Movement for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova (MDPM). On 17 October 1998 at the Congress, the leadership of the party was chosen and the status and political program based on the principles of social democracy was adopted. In parliamentary elections of March 1998, the electoral bloc formed on the basis of the Movement – the Bloc for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova won over 18% of the votes and 24 seats in Parliament respectively, which allowed it to participate in governance, within the Alliance for Democracy and Reforms (ADR). From 1997 until the summer of 2009, the party was led by Dumitru Diacov, who held the position of Chairman of Parliament within 1997–2001. In 1999, Ion Sturza, the MDPM representative, was appointed for the position of the prime minister.

On 15 April 2000, at the Congress of the Movement for a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova was changed its name to the Democratic Party of Moldova. In parliamentary elections of February 2001, the PDM won 79,757 votes (5.02%) but failed to overcome the 6% electoral threshold. On 25 May 2003, at the local elections, the party won over 8.3% of the votes and took good position in the country.

On 22 November 2003, at the Congress the new objectives of the party were set. One of the core document that was adopted at the Congress was the new edition of the political program, where the party declares an immutable character of its scopes and principals. At the Congress, the PDM declared the intention to become a member of Socialist International and the Resolution on relationships between PDM and the trade union movement was adopted. On 8 May 2004, in response to the voters' expectations regarding strengthening the reforming and democratic forces, the PDM, the Alliance "Our Moldova" and Social and Liberal Party (SLP) established the Democratic Moldova Block (DMB).

Following the parliamentary elections held on 6 March 2005, the PDM won 8 seats in the parliament, being the only party which had lost the election in 2001 and came back in the parliament in 2005. In October 2007, the Social and Liberal Party MPs joined the PDM's parliamentary group and the number of Democrats increased to 11, and the PDM became at that time the third political force in the Parliament.

After merging of the PDM with the Social and Liberal Party, which took place at the Congress on 10 February 2008, Dumitru Diacov was re-elected as a chairman of the party, and former Social and Liberal Party leader Oleg Serebrian became the deputy chairman. The PDM's party hymn became the Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", which symbolizes the pro-European vector of the party and its adhesion to the European federalist flow. On 19 July 2009, Marian Lupu was elected as party chairman at the Extraordinary Congress of the PDM.

On 5 April 2009 at the Parliamentary elections the PDM won only 2.97% of votes, and remained out of the Parliament. In the 29 July 2009 elections, the PDM won 13 seats, and became in a very short time one out of four components of the Alliance for European Integration (AEI) that gained the majority at the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. Marian Lupu, the PDM's candidate, was delegated as the candidate of the Alliance for European Integration for the position of the President of the Republic of Moldova at the elections held on 10 November and 7 December 2009 but did not gain enough votes.

Following the early parliamentary elections of 28 November 2010, the PDM won 15 seats in the Parliament and became one out of three components of the AEI-2. At the early 2013, following the resonant case “Pădurea Domnească” (Reign Forest) the alliance fell apart. In May 2013, PDM (with 15 MPs), the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (31 MPs) and the Liberal Reformist Party (7 MPs) established the new governing coalition - the Pro-European Coalition.

Following the parliamentary elections of 30 November 2014, the PDM won 15.8% and formed the pro-European governing coalition, having 19 MPs in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. After the elections, the PDM and Liberal Democratic Party (23 MPs) established the minority governing coalition – the Political Alliance for a European Moldova. Since 2009, the Democratic Party has been a full member of the Socialist International. From 2010 until 2015, the PDM was an observer member of the Party of European Socialists and in June 2015, the PDM became an associate member of the Party of European Socialists.

On 14 January 2016, Pavel Filip, delegated by the PDM and backed by the new parliamentary majority became the new candidate for prime minister position. The government headed by Filip was voted and appointed, with the votes of 57 members of parliament: 20 PDM's MPs, 13 LP's MPs, 14 former Communist Party's MPs, 8 MPs and 2 former MPs of the Liberal Democratic Party.

The VIIIth Congress was called after the decisions adopted at the meeting of the PDM's Political Council held on 10 December 2016 when the party leader, Mr. Marian Lupu, announced his resignation from the PDM's chairman position. The main task of the VIIIth Congress was the election of new leadership, adoption of new changes in the party's statute and streamlining new modernization objectives of the party. Vlad Plahotniuc was elected for the position of the PDM chairman and he gained unanimous supportive votes of delegates at the congress. Plahotniuc said that he would focus on the modernization of the political party, to become a party that promotes citizens' interests rather than geopolitical ones. The congress delegates elected Filip as first deputy chairman of the PDM, voted the list of the new National Political Council and adopted the new edition of the Party Statute. According to the organizers, about 1.000 delegates from all the districts of the country and guests from abroad participated in the congress.

On 10 March 2017, the 14 former Communist MPs who formed the Social Democratic Platform for Moldova (SDPM) joined the parliamentary faction of the PDM. Democratic faction leader, Marian Lupu said at the press briefing that the decision of the 14 MPs “is a step that will lead to the strengthening of the parliamentary majority”, thus, the PDM became largest political group in the Parliament.

In the 2019 parliamentary election, the PDM received 23.6% of the vote, gaining 30 seats in parliament, making it the second largest party in Moldova. The party moved into opposition to the new Sandu Cabinet (formed by Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and Dignity and Truth Platform Party). In November 2019, Sandu was removed by the Parliament of Moldova through a motion of no confidence and PDM and PSRM formed a new coalition government. Fifteen of PDM's deputies refused to join PSRM in the new government and split away forming the Pro Moldova party, which moved into opposition.

The Democratic Party of Moldova started a reconstruction process in the autumn of 2021, Monica Babuc being elected interim president of PDM. In 2022, the Democratic Party of Moldova and the Social Democratic Party of Romania started a strategic partnership. On August 25, the headquarters of the Moldovan-branch of the PSD was inaugurated within the PDM headquarters, which was led by Iurie Ciocan. on October 7, the first edition of the Forum of local elected officials of the PDM and PSD (Romania) was organized, attended by over 150 mayors, Local, district and county councilors from both Romania and Moldova, under the motto “United by infrastructure”. At the X congress of the PSDE (which was attended also by PSD leaders such as Marcel Ciolacu, Victor Negrescu and Vasile Dîncu), it was voted to change the name to the European Social Democratic Party ( ro, Partidul Social Democrat European, PSDE). Ion Sula