Brazilian Social Democratic Party

Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), centre-left Brazilian political party. It is particularly strong among Brazil’s middle classes and nonradical leftist intellectuals.

The Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) was formed in 1988 by leftist congressional members of the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro; PMDB), joined by members from other groups that included the Liberal Front Party (Partido da Frente Liberal; PFL) and the Brazilian Labour Party (Partido Trabalhista Brasileiro; PTB). To emphasize its distinctiveness from the PMDB, the new party stressed support for land reform, social justice, and protection of the environment. It also endorsed political reform, calling for a referendum to approve the replacement of Brazil’s presidential form of government with a parliamentary system.

Although the PSDB’s presidential candidate finished a disappointing fourth in 1989, in 1994 the party joined with the PMDB, the PFL, and the PTB to endorse the presidential candidacy of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, cofounder of the PSDB and a former head of the PSDB who had served as minister of the economy. With broad backing, Cardoso was elected handily. In 1998 Cardoso became the first civilian president of Brazil to be elected to a second consecutive term.

The PSDB also enjoyed considerable success in state elections and at the congressional level in the 1990s. In 1994 its candidates won six governorships, including those of the major states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. In 1998 it became the second largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress, holding nearly one-fifth of the total seats. In the elections of 2002, however, it placed fourth in the Chamber of Deputies, and its presidential candidate, José Serra, finished second behind Luis Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party.