The Social Democratic Party (french: Parti social-démocrate, PSD) was a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

political party in France. Originally named Democratic Socialist Movement of France (''Mouvement démocrate socialiste de France'', MDSF), the party was founded in 1973, by a split from the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(PS). Its founders (among them Max Lejeune, André Santini, Pierre-Cristophe Baguet,

Charles Baur Charles Baur (20 December 1929, Paris – 2 January 2015) was a French politician. He served as the longtime President of the Regional Council of Picardy from 1976 until 1978 and again from 1985 to 2004. He was a member of the Union for French De ...

, Émile Muller, Joseph Klifa and Auguste Locoeur) opposed to the alliance with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European ...

(PCF) arranged by

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

on behalf of the PS based on the '' Common Programme''. In 1978, the PSD joined the

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to ...

(UDF), the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

confederation created in order to support President

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing (, , ; 2 February 19262 December 2020), also known as Giscard or VGE, was a French politician who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981. After serving as Minister of Finance under prime ...

. In 1995, the PSD merged with the

Centre of Social Democrats The Centre of Social Democrats (''Centre des démocrates sociaux'', CDS; also translated as ''Democratic and Social Centre'') was a Christian-democratic and centrist political party in France. It existed from 1976 to 1995 and was based directly a ...

(CDS), the

Christian-democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

component of the confederation, to form Democratic Force (FD), which later became the core of a unified UDF in 1998.

References

Political parties of the French Fifth Republic Political parties established in 1973 Political parties disestablished in 1995 Centrist parties in France 1973 establishments in France 1995 disestablishments in France {{France-party-stub