Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 2011)

This article is about the current political party in Brazil. For the historic political party with the same name, see Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 1945–65). For other parties with similar names, see Social Democratic Party.
Social Democratic Party
Partido Social Democrático
AbbreviationPSD
PresidentGilberto Kassab
FounderGilberto Kassab
Founded21 March 2011 (2011-03-21)
Split fromDemocrats (mainly)
PSDB (minority)
NewspaperDiálogos no Espaço Democrático
Think tankEspaço Democrático[1]
Youth wingPSD Jovem
Women's wingPSD Mulher
Membership411,608[2]
IdeologyBig tent[6]
Political positionCentre[9] to centre-right[12]
Colours    Blue, green,
and yellow
TSE Identification Number55
Chamber of Deputies
42 / 513
Federal Senate
16 / 81
City Councillors
5,694 / 56,810
Website
psd.org.br

The Social Democratic Party (Portuguese: Partido Social Democrático, PSD) is a political party in Brazil led by Gilberto Kassab and uniting dissidents from various political parties, especially the Democrats, Brazilian Social Democracy Party and Party of National Mobilization.[13]

The party has become a major force for centrism in Brazil and commonly unites with both left-wing and right-wing parties. In this way, the party managed to have members occupying positions in ministries and important secretariats in the governments of presidents Dilma Rousseff, Michel Temer, Jair Bolsonaro, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. As such, PSD has been considered by political scientists as a big tent party,[3] which is part of the Centrão.[14] While one of the youngest parties in Brazil, PSD's pragmatic "physiological" nature has allowed it to grow exponentinally, becoming one of the largest parties in Brazil. After the 2024 Brazilian municipal elections it became the party with the most number of mayors in Brazil.[15]

History

The party was founded in 2011 by São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab, bringing together dissidents from Kassab’s former party, the Democrats (DEM), and from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), as well as some members from the Progressive Party (PP), the Brazilian Labour Party (PTB), and others. It united politicians who opposed their parties’ “automatic opposition” to the Workers' Party (PT) and advocated for a more pragmatic stance, open to dialogue with the government, while positioning itself as an alternative to the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), as the traditional force in big tent politics.[16] The foundation was criticized by members of the opposition political parties, primarily the Democrats (DEM), as supporting the government. Many Democrats members accused the PSD of being created by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to destroy the DEM and deliver on a promise made to Workers' Party (PT) supporters to "exterminate the DEM from the Brazilian political scenario".[17] The party was criticized for having a vague program, making references to economic freedom, political reform and welfare, and being hard to differentiate from other political parties except those on the hard left. According to Kassab, "We are neither a right-wing party nor a left-wing nor a centrist party".[18]

In many Brazilian states, the PSD took a liberal stance on economics and had good election results. The party has good relationships with major political parties such as the social democratic Brazilian Socialist Party, the national conservative Progressive Party, the centrist Brazilian Labour Party, the Christian democratic Brazilian Republican Party and the progressive Citizenship. Since its inception, the party has been associated with fusions with other parties, primarily the PP and PSB. It has endured on the Brazilian political scene, and has more representation than any political party other than the major ones. The party chaired the Finance Ministry of Brazil in Michel Temer's government, and is a major force in Brazilian politics.

However, in the state of Bahia, the party is a long-term partner of the major left-wing Workers' Party, having the running mate in the gubernatorial tickets of Rui Costa and each party supporting the other in the senate elections, with Otto Alencar and Angelo Coronel being the senators of Bahia together with the Petista Jaques Wagner.

The PSD supported the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff.[19]

PSD elected several senators and some governors in the Brazilian Centro-Sul region in 2018, with the support of Jair Bolsonaro.

Ideology

Soon after its foundation, the national president of the party, Gilberto Kassab (SP), stated: "It will not be on the right, it will not be on the left, nor on the center". The foundational purpose of the PSD is the satisfaction of the interests of the lower class that had risen to the middle class position during the Workers' Party governments.[20] The then-vice-president of the party, Guilherme Affif Domingos (SP) wrote a document with 12 party commitments, among them:

  1. National Development
  2. Liberty
  3. Democracy and Regional Representation
  4. The Right to Security of Property
  5. Equal Opportunities
  6. Sustainability and Technological Innovation
  7. Accountability and Fiscal Responsibility
  8. Freedom of the Press
  9. Free Association
  10. Decentralization and Federalism
  11. Free Trade and Defense of Traditional Values
  12. Individual Freedom and Responsibility[21][22]

However, according to political scientist Rui Maluf, the absence of specific programmatic content reveals that the PSD has a typically catch-all organizational nature and that its foundation reflects the dissatisfaction of its staff with previous parties, mostly from the Democratas party.[3]

Notable members

Election results

Presidential elections

Year Candidate for President Candidate for Vice-President Coalition Percentage Result
2014
Dilma Rousseff

PT

Michel Temer

MDB

With the Power of the People

(PT, PMDB, PSD, PP, PL,

PROS, PDT, PCdoB and PRB)

54,501,118

(51.64%)

Elected

2nd Round

2018
Geraldo Alckmin

PSDB

Ana Amélia Lemos

PP

To Unite Brazil

(PSDB, PP, PTB, PSD, PRB,

PL, DEM, Solidarity and PPS)

5,096,350

(4,76%)

Lost

4th in 1st Round

Legislative elections

Election Chamber of Deputies Federal Senate Role in government
Votes % Seats +/– Votes % Seats +/–
2014 5,967,953 6.14%
36 / 513
 New 7,147,245 8.00%
3 / 81
 New Coalition
2018 5,749,008 5.85%
34 / 513
 Decrease 2 8,202,342 4.79%
7 / 81
 Increase 4 Support
2022 8,322,183 7,55%
42 / 513
 Increase 8 11,312,512 11.12%
10 / 81
 Increase 3 Coalition (2022–2023)
Independent (2023–2024)
Coalition (2024–2025)
Confidence and Supply (2025–present)
Sources: Election Resources, Dados Eleitorais do Brasil (1982–2006)

References

  1. ^ https://espacodemocratico.org.br
  2. ^ "Eleitores filiados". Archived from the original on 2018-11-03. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  3. ^ a b c "PSD: um novo velho partido". VEJA (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-20.
  4. ^ Bouchard, Joseph (2024-10-09). "Divided Conservative Movement Wins Big in Brazil's Municipal Elections". RealClearWorld. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  5. ^ Franco, Luiza (2025-04-02). "Brazil's Low-Key Operator". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 2025-09-09.
  6. ^ [3][4][5]
  7. ^ Souza, Rafael Martins de; Graça, Luís Felipe Guedes da; Silva, Ralph dos Santos (2017-11-13). "Politics on the Web: Using Twitter to Estimate the Ideological Positions of Brazilian Representatives". Brazilian Political Science Review. 11 (3). doi:10.1590/1981-3821201700030003. ISSN 1981-3821.
  8. ^ "Centrist allies of Brazil's Rousseff to vote for impeachment". Reuters. 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  9. ^ [7][8]
  10. ^ "Brazil Senate head switches party, eyeing 2022 presidential bid". Reuters. 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2025-09-10.
  11. ^ Carlomagno, Márcio; Braga, Sérgio; Angeli, Alzira Ester (2022). "Do — and why do — people interact with politicians on social media? Evidences from Brazilian state level elections". Revista Sociedade e Cultura. 25. doi:10.5216/sec.v25.70812. (vii) Ideology (party): Despite that some international political science approaches consider party ideology a 'démodé' variable, Brazilian political scientists still vastly use it. Considering the objectives of our study, we classified the parties according to the literature concepts (ZUCCO JR., 2009), under which codes range from left (1) to right (5). Left: PSOL, PSTU, PCO, PCB. Center-left: PT, PCdoB, PDT. Center: PMDB, PSDB, PSB, PPS, PV. Center-right: PSD, PP, PR, PRB, PROS, PSC, PTB, PHS, SD. Right: DEM, PMN, PRP, PRTB, PSDC, PSL, PTdoB, PTC, PTN.
  12. ^ [10][11]
  13. ^ "Kassab funda PSD com promessa de apoio a Dilma". Folha de S. Paulo. April 14, 2011.
  14. ^ Marés, Chico. ""Centrão" renasce na Câmara como a maior força do parlamento". Gazeta do Povo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  15. ^ "'O PSD é a cara do Brasil, e esse é um modelo batido no país'". Nexo Jornal (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-10-07.
  16. ^ "História do PSD: o partido com maior número de prefeitos no Brasil". politize (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2025-10-14.
  17. ^ "'Precisamos extirpar o DEM da política brasileira', afirma Lula". Eleições 2010 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2010-09-13. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  18. ^ "Kassab: PSD não será "nem esquerda, direita ou centro" - Política". Estadão.
  19. ^ "Dois senadores do PR votaram contra impeachment". Correio do Lago (in Portuguese). 12 May 2016. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
  20. ^ "PSD: um novo velho partido". VEJA (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  21. ^ "Os 12 "mandamentos" do Partido Social Democrático". VEJA (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  22. ^ "Princípios e Valores". PSD 55 - Partido Social Democrático. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_(Brazil,_2011)