The Democratic Left ( es, Izquierda Democrática, ID) was a

Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...

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 ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. It was formed by people from the anti-Francoist opposition, like

Gregorio Peces-Barba Gregorio Peces-Barba (13 January 1938 – 24 July 2012) was a Spanish politician and jurist. He was one of the seven jurists who wrote the Spanish Constitution of 1978, acting as a representative of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Peces ...

or Joaquín Ruíz-Giménez. The party had two main internal factions: the

social democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

one and 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 ...

one.

History

ID was officially constituted in April 1976 at

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, ...

, under the leadership of

Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez Cortés (Hoyo de Manzanares, Madrid, 2 August 1913 - Madrid, 27 August 2009) was a Spanish politician and jurist. He was minister of Education under Franco (1951-1955) but he drifted apart from the Francoist State since 195 ...

and

José Maria Gil-Robles José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

. Internal differences led to a split, mainly of the more moderate sector led by

Fernando Álvarez de Miranda Fernando Álvarez de Miranda y Torres (14 January 1924 – 7 May 2016) was a Spanish politician, lawyer, and university professor of Procedural Law. He was president of the Congress of Deputies from 1977 to 1979, the first after Spain's transiti ...

, shortly after the party was founded. The splitters founded Christian Democratic Left, that would later join the Union of the Democratic Centre. For the 1977 general election, the party was a member of the Federation of Christian Democracy, which was also included into the

Christian Democratic Team of the Spanish State Christian Democratic Team of the Spanish State (in Spanish: ''Equipo Demócrata Cristiano del Estado Español'', EDCEE) was a political alliance of the Democratic Union of Catalonia, the Federation of Christian Democracy (composed of Democratic ...

. After the disappointing results in the Spanish general elections of 1977. ID didn't enter the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, its main objective, ID got 5 senators. ID dissolved in 1979 and its members joined other parties, mainly the

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

and UCD.

References

1976 establishments in Spain 1979 disestablishments in Spain Christian democratic parties in Europe Defunct social democratic parties in Spain Political parties disestablished in 1979 Political parties established in 1976 {{Spain-party-stub

History

See also

References