Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly)

Not to be confused with Belarusian Social Democratic Party (People's Assembly) or Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly.

Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Assembly) Беларуская сацыял-дэмакратычная партыя (Грамада) Белорусская социал-демократическая партия (Грамада)
Abbreviation	BSDP (Hramada) БСДП (Грамада)
Leader	Ihar Barysaŭ
Founder	Anatol Laŭkovič
Founded	25 June 2005 (2005-06-25)
Banned	20 September 2023 (2023-09-20)
Split from	Belarusian Social Democratic Party (People's Assembly) Belarusian Labour Party
Headquarters	9-607th building, Kulman St, Minsk, Belarus
Newspaper	Adliustravannie, Pazicyja
Youth wing	Young Social Democrats — Young Hramada
Membership (2019)	1,127
Ideology	Social democracy Liberal democracy Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	United Democratic Forces of Belarus
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance
Colours	Red   White
Slogan	«We think about everyone — we work together!» (Belarusian: «Думаем пра кожнага — працуем разам!»)
Anthem	The Internationale translated by Yanka Kupala
House of Representatives	0 / 110
Council of the Republic	0 / 64
Website
bsdp.org
Politics of Belarus Political parties Elections

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		Second round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
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					Rank	Government
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
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		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

№	Image	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

See also

• Belarusian Social Democratic Assembly
• Belarusian Social Democratic Party (People's Assembly)
• Social Democratic Party of Popular Accord

History of Belarusian social-democratic parties

External links

• Official website (in Belarusian)
• OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, Final Report of the Republic of Belarus Parliamentary Elections, 17 October 2004