The Social Democratic Party was a liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 between 1945 and 1965. Founded as a center-right party by Getúlio Vargas

Getúlio Vargas

Getúlio Dornelles Vargas served as President of Brazil, first as dictator, from 1930 to 1945, and in a democratically elected term from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. Vargas led Brazil for 18 years, the most for any President, and second in Brazilian history to Emperor Pedro II...

 together with the left-leaning Brazilian Labour Party

Brazilian Labour Party (historical)

The Brazilian Labour Party was a center-left populist political party in Brazil founded in 1945 by supporters of the late Getúlio Vargas. It was dismantled by the military after 1964 coup d'état.-History:...

, it elected Presidents Eurico Gaspar Dutra

Eurico Gaspar Dutra

Eurico Gaspar Dutra , was a Brazilian marshal, politician and president of Brazil from 1946–1951.He was born in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, and like many other Brazilians, was from Azorean-Portuguese origin...

 in 1945 and Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira

Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira , known also by his initials JK, was a prominent Brazilian politician of gypsy Czech origin who was President of Brazil from 1956 to 1961. He was born in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, and died in 1976...

 in 1955. It was the most important Brazilian political party during the 1945-1964 democratic regime, until the multi-party system

Multi-party system

A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...

 was banned by the military government on October 27, 1965. After this, the main party leaders migrated to Brazilian Democratic Movement

Brazilian Democratic Movement

The Brazilian Democratic Movement was a political party in Brazil that existed from 1965 to 1979. It was formed in 1965, when the military government that overthrew President João Goulart abolished all existing political parties...

, the only opposition party allowed by the regime.

A second Social Democratic Party existed after the end of the dictatorship, trying to capitalize on Kubitschek's legacy, but it never attained significant electoral success, and it was soon merged into the new Labour Party.

A third PSD was founded by São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab

Gilberto Kassab

Gilberto Kassab is a Brazilian politician, current mayor of São Paulo. His term ends in 2012. A civil engineer and economist, of Lebanese descent, Kassab took over from José Serra, after Serra decided to run for governor of São Paulo...

 in early 2011 and attracted some high profile leader from Democratas party including former vice-presidential candidate Indo da Costa and Santa Catarina governor Raimundo Colombo.

External links

Article about the Social Democratic Party on the official website of Fundação Getúlio Vargas

Fundação Getúlio Vargas

Fundação Getulio Vargas is a Brazilian higher education institution founded on December 20, 1944. It offers regular courses of Economics, Business Administration, Law, Social Sciences and Information technology management...