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The Social Democrats

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The Social Democrats (Italian: i SocialDemocratici, iSD), whose complete name is The Social Democrats – Federalists for the Euromediterranean (i SocialDemocratici – Federalisti per l'Euromediterraneo), is a minor social-democratic political party in Italy. Mimmo Magistro is the party leader.

The party was founded in November 2011 by a split from the Italian Democratic Socialist Party (PSDI). Magistro had been the secretary of the PSDI from 2007 to July 2011, when a tribunal in Rome declared Renato D'Andria, who had been elected secretary in 2006 only to see his election invalidated by the party, legitimate secretary of the party. Magistro proposed a reconciliation between the two factions, but D'Andria did not accept the conditions posed by him. In mid November 2011, 28 members out of 31 of the outgoing National Council, including Magistro, thus left the PSDI in order to form a new party named The Social Democrats (iSD).

On 11 January 2012, on the 65th anniversary of the split of Palazzo Barberini, the PSDI and iSD organized a common event in remembrance of Giuseppe Saragat, a former President of the Italian Republic (1964–1971) and long-standing leader of the PSDI from 1947 until his death in 1988. A recomposition of the two groups may still be possible, but it has been made difficult also by the fact that D'Andria is keen on an alliance with the centre-right (three MPs of The People of Freedom – Massimo Baldini, Giancarlo Lehner and Paolo Russo – are quite close to the new PSDI), while Magistro has aligned his iSD with the centre-left.

Leadership

  • President: Mimmo Magistro (2011–present)
  • References

    The Social Democrats Wikipedia