Social Democratic Party (Jonathia)

The Social Democratic Party, sometimes shortened as just Social Democrats, or just SDP, is a left-wing political party in Jonathia. The party was formed in August of 1950, and promotes social democracy. The party currently has four seats in parliament, and 68 seats across the provincial councils. The party also controls one governorship.
The Social Democrats were formed in 1950 as a splinter group of the Republican Party. The party won it's first seats in 1977, and since then their popularity has largely fluctuated. The party has never been victorious in an election, but it has been in government on three occasions; the Social Democrats were junior partners in the JFP-led government elected in 1987 and the Liberal-led governments in 1991 and 2023. Although it allowed them to implement some of their policies, the coalition damaged the SDP's electoral prospects and they suffered many losses at the 1989 general election, before losing all their seats between then and 1995. Under the leaderships of William Pandio and later Greta Leafberg, the party managed to stabilise and regain their parliamentary presence in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
A left-wing political party, the Social Democrats ideologically draw upon social democracy. Different factions have dominated the party at different times, each with its own ideological bent, some leaning towards the centre-left and others to left-wing politics. The party calls for constitutional reform, including a change from the current Jonathian voting system to a more proportionally representative system. Emphasising stronger protections for civil liberties, the party promotes social-liberal approaches to issues like LGBT rights, drug liberalisation, education policy and criminal justice. It favours a market-based economy supplemented with social welfare spending. The party is internationalist and pro-Tapanthian. The Social Democrats have promoted further environmental protections and opposed Jonathian military ventures and the use of nuclear weaponry.
==See also==
*List of political parties in Jonathia
Category:Political parties
Category:Politics
Category:Political parties in Jonathia
Category:Jonathia
Category:Social Democratic Party of Jonathia
Category:Liberalism
Category:Socialism