# Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly)

The Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) (Belarusian: Беларуская сацыял-дэмакратычная партыя (Грамада́), Łacinka: Bielaruskaja sacyjal-demakratyčnaja partyja (Hramada); Russian: Белорусская социал-демократическая партия (Громада́), romanized: Belarusskaya Social-Demokraticheskaya Partiya (Hromada)) is a banned social-democratic political party in Belarus that opposes the government of president Alexander Lukashenko.

## History

The party was founded in 2005 after the split within the BSDP (People's Assembly). It considers itself the successor of the historical Belarusian Socialist Assembly founded in 1902. Alaksandar Kazulin, a former rector of Belarusian State University, became the first party leader of the new registered party. The BSDP (People's Assembly) remained without registration and office.
At the legislative elections in 13–17 October 2004, the party did not secure any seats. These elections fell significantly short of OSCE commitments, according to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission. Its candidate at the presidential election of 2006, Alaksandar Kazulin, won 2.3% of the vote.
In 2011, Iryna Veshtard was elected as the new chairman of the party.
On 20 September 2023, the party was banned by the Supreme Court of Belarus.

## Ideology and goals of the party

The Belarusian Social Democratic Party belongs to the community of parties associated with the Socialist International. BSDP focuses on Western European social-democratic ideology and is supported by various Western European social democratic parties. The main task of the country's foreign party promotes not only the entry of Belarus into the European Union and NATO, but also promotes the accession of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova.

## Electoral history
### Presidential elections

| Election | Candidate | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Result |
| Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Votes | % | Result |
| 2006 | Alyaksandr Kazulin | 147,402 | 2.23% | | | Lost N |
| 2010 | Mikola Statkevich | 67,583 | 1.05% | | | Lost N |
| 2015 | Tatsiana Karatkevich | 271,426 | 4.48% | | | Lost N |
| 2020 | Endorsed Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya | 588,622 | 10.12% | | | Lost N |

### Legislative elections

| Election | Party leader | Performance | Performance | Performance | Performance | Performance | Rank | Government |
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | Rank | Government |
| 2008 | Anatol Laŭkovič | 17,380 | 0.32% | 2.51 | 0 / 110 | 0 | 8th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2012 | Iryna Veshtard | 38,471 | 0.73% | 0.41 | 0 / 110 | 0 | 6th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2016 | Iryna Veshtard | 66,381 | 1.29% | 0.56 | 0 / 110 | 0 | 8th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2019 | Ihar Barysaŭ | 84,790 | 1.61% | 0.32 | 0 / 110 | 0 | 6th | Extra-parliamentary |

## Leadership

| № | Name | Tenure |
| 1 | Michaś Tkačoŭ | 1991– 1992 |
| 2 | Aleh Trusaŭ | 1992– 1995 |
| 3 | Mikola Statkevich | 1995– 2005 |
| 4 | Anatol Laŭkovič | 2005– 2006 |
| 5 | Alyaksandr Kazulin | 2006– 2008 |
| 6 | Anatol Laŭkovič | 2008– 2010 |
| 7 | Anatol Sidarevič | 2010– 2011 |
| 8 | Iryna Veshtard | 2011– 2018 |
| 9 | Ihar Barysaŭ | 2018 Incumbent |