The Social Democratic Party or Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party (, PSD, ''Partido Alternativa Socialdemócrata y Campesina, Alternativa'') was a left-wing Mexican

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

between 2005 and 2009. It defined itself as a New Left party and distanced itself from what they claimed was the "conflictive left" in Mexico. Founded by

Patricia Mercado Dora Patricia Mercado Castro (; born October 21, 1957 in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora) is a Mexico, Mexican feminism, feminist politician. She is a founder, former president and the 2006 presidential candidate of the former Social Democratic Party ( ...

and Ignacio Irys Salomon, the party nominated Patrica Mercado for the 2006 general election. In the 2006 legislative elections the party won 4 out of 500 seats in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

History

Founding in 2004–2005

Originally named as ''Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party,'' the party started as an alliance between two political leaders, Ignacio Irys Salomon and Patricia Mercado along with peasantry factions. Although, most of its members also come from four other social democratic parties who have lost registration and merged from the following Social Democracy Party led by

Gilberto Rincón Gallardo Gilberto Rincón Gallardo y Meltis (15 May 1939 – 30 August 2008) was a Mexican politician, activist and former presidential candidate. Biography Rincón Gallardo was born in Mexico City into an upper-class family descendant of the Marquess ...

México Posible México Posible () was a Mexican political party of brief existence which took part in the midterm 2003 Mexican legislative election. The party was led by Patricia Mercado. Due to its not achieving 2.0% of the national vote the party lost its nati ...

(''originally'' ''led by Patricia Mercado)'', Fuerza Ciudadana and the ''Partido Campesino y Popular''.

2006 elections

During 2006, The peasant wing of the PSD was headed by Ignacio Irys Salomón, as part of the fractured ''Coalition of Urban and Peasant Democratic Organizations'' which brings together ejidatarios, small landowners and commoners. The party was seriously fractured, since it was a new party right before the 2006 elections. The peasant wing decided to promote the candidacy of pharmaceutical businessman Víctor González Torres, who was highly popular among them and challenged Mercado's candidacy, assuming that the latter did not have sufficient support within the party. González Torres proclaimed himself as candidate and began a media campaign against Mercado. The Electoral Institute ratified Mercado's candidacy for presidential candidate of the party. After ratification was confirmed for Mercado, Víctor González campaigned without a political party or registration as a candidate. in the 2006 elections the PSD managed to obtain 2.11% of the total votes, while in the 2006 legislative elections the party won 4 out of 500 seats in the

but no senators elected.

Dissolution

The Social Democratic Party came to an end after the results in the 2009 legislative elections; the party won only 1.03% of the vote and did not reach the 2.0% required to be known as a political party, thus losing registration and dissolving. Some of its principal members joined the Citizens' Movement Party.

Ideology

The PSD opposed the public influence of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and has challenged the moral and teaching authority of

Archbishop of Mexico The Archdiocese of Mexico () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church that is situated in Mexico City, Mexico. It was erected as a diocese on 2 September 1530 and elevated to an archdiocese on 12 February 15 ...

Cardinal Norberto Rivera. It also pleaded in favor of equal marriage,

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

, the decriminalization of

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and the legalization of some drugs.

PSD presidents

(2005) * Alberto Begné Guerra (2005–2008) * Jorge Carlos Díaz Cuervo (2008–2009)

PSD presidential candidates

(2006)

References

{{Authority control Political parties established in 2005 Political parties disestablished in 2009 Defunct political parties in Mexico Social democratic parties in Mexico Feminist parties in North America Feminism in Mexico 2005 establishments in Mexico 2009 disestablishments in Mexico