The (''Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira'', PSDB) is a
Political Party in
Brazil .
In the
General Elections , 1 October 2006, the party won 65 out of 513 seats in the
Chamber Of Deputies Of Brazil and 5 out of 27 seats available in the
Senate Of Brazil totaling 15 senators. In the presidential elections held at the same time, its candidate,
Geraldo Alckimin , came second in the first round. In the
Run-off he lost, with 39.17% of the votes, to
Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva .
Some of the PSDB politicians who currently hold positions are:
Tasso Jereissati (senator of the state of Ceará and the party's president),
Aécio Neves (governor of
Minas Gerais ) ,
Yeda Crusius the first female (governor of
Rio Grande Do Sul ) and
José Serra (governor of the State of
São Paulo ).
The PSDB is one of the largest and most important political parties in Brazil. Its official program states its policies as being
Social-democratic and often associated with the
Third Way movement, although the party is also regarded as being influenced by
Neoliberalism . The party's program
states that it "reject[s populism and authoritarianism, as well as both fundamentalist neoliberalism ''and'' obsolete national-statism."
PSDB was founded on
June 25 ,
1988 , having "democracy as a fundamental value" and "
Social Justice " as an aim to be reached. In its foundation, the party attempted to unite political groups as diverse as "
Social Democrat s", "'
Social Liberal s ", "
Christian Democrat s" and "
Democratic Socialist s".
With the collapse of the military dictatorship in the early 80's, a group of social-democrat intellectuals were mobilized to create a leftist party. They attempted to work with the syndicalist movement (organized by
Lula , the current president of
Brazil ), but the groups were unable to compromise. One group pushed to create a Social-Democratic Party, while the other group wanted to create a Socialist Party. The socialists joined the sydicalists and created the Partido dos Trabalhadores (
Worker's Party ), and the other group years later created the first Social-Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB). This period when PSDB was created was a very significant moment in the history of Brazilian politics. On
April 21 ,
1985 , the Brazilian people witnessed the death of
Tancredo Neves , the last president not elected directly by the people since the beginning of the dictatorial government. With the formation of new parties, including PSDB, a National Constitutional Assembly was created which drafted the current, democratic constitution, in 1988.
A high proportion of the first members of PSDB came from the so-called "historic ). Some of the founding members were
José Serra , who ran for president and lost to
Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva in the 2002 General Elections;
Mário Covas (Governor of São Paulo State 1994-1998/1998-2001); Franco Montoro (Governor of São Paulo State 1982-1986),
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (President of Brazil 1994-2002),
Aécio Neves (Governor of Minas Gerais State 2002-),
Geraldo Alckmin (Governor of São Paulo State 2001-2006).
Many years after its creation, PSDB grew faster than any other party in Brazilian history, with an astonishingly good performance in elections at all levels. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso enjoyed eight years (1994-2002) of political stability in his tenure as president.
Because of the party magnitude, many members do not have proper conditions to spell out the real principles behind which it was founded or at least are not able to do so with the same force as its leading members. Yet, it remains one of the most democratic parties in the country and undoubtedly plays an important role in the current new era of Brazilian politics.
PSDB questions the use of what it considers "outdated political labels", such as "left" and "right". To quote a document drafted by
Fernando Henrique Cardoso 's office in
1990 :
"If left means to be against the existing social order, and right in favor, then social-democracy is without doubt a left current... A social democrat is before anything someone who has critical sense — who realizes the injustices of society and has no fear to oppose them, even at the risk of being taken as a subversive or a dreamer."
The party did not preach nationalization or privatization in general ("the consensus is that the state must not be too big or too small, but 'have the size and functions corresponding to the needs of the whole of society'"), although president Cardoso privatized many large public companies, such as
Companhia Vale Do Rio Doce (CVRD) and the national telecommunication system.
