Democrat Social Movement

The Democrat Social Movement (Spanish: Movimiento Demócrata Social, MDS), called simply Democrats, is a Bolivian political party founded in 2013 by politicians associated with the right-wing of the country's political spectrum and the movement for greater autonomy for the eastern departments of the Media Luna.

Rubén Costas, governor of Santa Cruz department, announced the party's formation in March 2013. Twenty leaders gathered to launch the party in April 2013, including Costas, Beni governor Carmelo Lens and his predecessor Ernesto Suárez, Senator Bernard Gutiérrez (PPB-Cochabamba), and Cochabamba council member Ninoska Lazarte. The launch was hosted by Savina Cuéllar, the former prefect of Chuquisaca Department, who as of April 2013 was under house arrest facing charges for the May 24, 2008 violence in Sucre. After a failed petition to legally merge the registration of Costas' Truth and Social Democracy (VERDES) party, Renewing Freedom and Democracy (Libertad y Democracia Renovadora; Líder), and Popular Consensus in June, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal authorized Popular Consensus to rename itself the Social Democrat Movement in August 2013. The party is scheduled to decide on its presidential nominee on December 15, 2013.