Union of Democratic Forces Съюз на демократичните сили | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Rumen Hristov |
| Founded | 7 December 1989 (1989-12-07) |
| Headquarters | 134 Rakovska Str., 1000Sofia |
| Membership(2018) | around 10,000[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right[10][11] toright-wing[12] |
| National affiliation | GERB—SDS |
| European affiliation | European People's Party |
| European Parliament group | European People's Party Group |
| International affiliation | Centrist Democrat International International Democrat Union (formerly) |
| Colours | Blue |
| National Assembly | 1 / 240 |
| European Parliament | 1 / 17 |
| Municipalities | 7 / 265 |
| Website | |
| sds.bg | |
TheUnion of Democratic Forces (Bulgarian:Съюз на демократичните сили,romanized: Sayuz na demokratichnite sili,СДС/SDS) is apolitical party inBulgaria, founded in 1989 as a union of several political organizations in opposition to the communist government. The Union was transformed into a single unified party with the same name. The SDS is a member of theEuropean People's Party (EPP). In the 1990s the party had the largest membership in the country, with one million members,[13] but has since splintered into a number of small parties totaling no more than 40,000 members. The SDS proper had 12,000 members in 2016.[1]
The party was a ruling party in Bulgaria during the period between 1991-1993 and 1997-2001
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Dissident groups formed under the faltering regime ofTodor Zhivkov in the late 1980s were the basis for the Union. Once Zhivkov fell, a loose political confederation was envisioned where constituent groups could continue to work for their own cause, while the coordinating council would include three members from each organization. The Longtime dissident philosopherZhelyu Zhelev, who would later become Bulgaria's president, was elected chairman, andPetar Beron, a well-knownenvironmental scientist, was chosen as secretary.
The SDS was officially founded on 7 December 1989 as a union of eleven political organizations, such asEkoglasnost,Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (United) andBulgarian Agrarian People's Union "Nikola Petkov". The following year, six more parties were incorporated (Radical Democratic Party,Green Party of Bulgaria,Democratic Party,New Social Democratic Party,United Democratic Centre,Democratic Front).[14][15]
The SDS lost the 1990 elections to theBulgarian Socialist Party but still participated in the joint cabinet ofDimitar Iliev Popov. On 15 May 1991 39 members left the SDS because of disagreements with the draft of the new constitution and founded the new organizationsSDS-Center andSDS-Liberals. Later the remnants of the SDS formed their own cabinet with Prime MinisterFilip Dimitrov in November 1991, though the cabinet lasted only a little over a year when the government failed amotion of confidence in September 1992. The socialists, together with theMovement for Rights and Freedoms, formed a coalition government headed by Prof.Lyuben Berov. Following the resignation of Berov's cabinet in October 1994, the BSP went on to win the1994 elections.
However, following discontent over economic problems, Prime MinisterZhan Videnov resigned at the end of 1996, clearing the way fornew elections, this time won by the SDS with a crushing 55% vote. Party leaderIvan Kostov went on to form the new government and successfully passed several economic reforms. He was eventually rewarded in December 1999 with an invitation to begin membership talks with theEuropean Union. But public discontent over the social cost of the reforms, including increased unemployment, as well as allegations of corruption led to the SDS's defeat in theJune 2001 elections, which were won by theNational Movement for Simeon II. TheUnited Democratic Forces won 18.2% of the popular vote and 51 out of 240 seats.
The SDS was chaired until the May 20, 2007 European elections byPetar Stoyanov, former president of the country. Meanwhile, Kostov, the former Prime Minister and SDS party leader went on to form his own party -Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. At the2005 parliamentary election, the United Democratic Forces won 8.4% of the popular vote and 20 out of 240 seats.
It was announced at the inaugural conference of theMovement for European Reform (MER, March 2007) that the SDS would become official partners alongside theBritish Conservative Party and theCzechCivic Democratic Party.[16] In mid April 2007, the SDS backtracked on its decision, stating that it remains loyal to the EPP and that it will never leave the EPP section of the EPP-ED Group to join another Group.
In theMay 20, 2007 European elections the SDS failed to elect even a single MEP, resulting in the resignation of Stoyanov who led the list.
At the start of 2009 the SDS entered in an electoral alliance named the "Blue Coalition" with four other center-right parties: theDSB, theUnited Agrarians, theBulgarian Social Democratic Party and theRadical Democratic Party. The alliance fielded candidates for theJune 2009 European election winning a seat. When theLisbon Treaty came into force in December of that year, their representation doubled. Now[when?] both the SDS and the DSB had an MEP.
The Blue coalition placed fifth in thelegislative election a month later with a combined 6.8% of the vote and 15 seats.
In theMay 2013 elections, the SDS ran alone and lost all of its seats in the Bulgarian National Assembly, but regained fournext year as a part of theReformist Bloc alliance. The same pattern repeated in2017 andApril of 2021, with zero and then two seats respectively (running together withGERB in 2021). Two other MPs joined the SDS later on.[17]
For the 1997 parliamentary elections, an alliance namedUnited Democratic Forces was formed around SDS. The same name was later used for other elections and parliamentary groups.[citation needed]
In early 2009 an alliance was formed together withDemocrats for a Strong Bulgaria for theEuropean Parliament elections andNational Assembly elections. The coalition was named theBlue Coalition and included some other parties.
The coalition agreement to form the alliance of theReformist Bloc was signed on 20 December 2013. The five parties that signed the agreement were the Union of Democratic Forces,Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria,Bulgaria for Citizens Movement,People's Party Freedom and Dignity, and theBulgarian Agrarian National Union.[18]
Since 2019 the party is in a coalition withGERB.
Chairmen of the Coordination Council
Chairmen and Chairwomen of the unified party
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 2,217,798 | 36.21 (#2) | 144 / 400 |  | Caretaker |
| 1991 | 1,903,567 | 34.4 (#1) | 110 / 240 |  34 | Coalition |
| Opposition | |||||
| 1994 | 1,260,374 | 24.23 (#2) | 69 / 240 | 41 | Opposition |
| 1997[a] | 2,223,714 | 52.3 (#1) | 137 / 240 |  68 | Majority |
| 2001[a] | 830,338 | 18.18 (#2) | 51 / 240 | 86 | Opposition |
| 2005[a] | 280,323 | 7.68 (#5) | 20 / 240 | 31 | Opposition |
| 2009[b] | 285,671 | 6.76 (#5) | 15 / 240 | 5 | Support |
| 2013 | 48,681 | 1.38 (#12) | 0 / 240 | 15 | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2014[c] | 291,806 | 8.89 (#4) | 4 / 240 | 4 | Coalition |
| 2017[c] | 107,399 | 3.06 (#6) | 0 / 240 | 4 | Extra-parliamentary |
| Apr 2021[d] | 837,671 | 25.71 (#1) | 2 / 240 | 2 | Snap election |
| Jul 2021[d] | 642,165 | 23.21 (#2) | 3 / 240 | 1 | Snap election |
| Nov 2021[d] | 596,456 | 22.44 (#2) | 2 / 240 | 1 | Opposition |
| 2022[d] | 634,627 | 25.34 (#1) | 3 / 240 | 1 | Snap election |
| 2023[d] | 669,924 | 25.39 (#1) | 2 / 240 | 1 | Coalition |
| Jun 2024[d] | 530,658 | 23.99 (#1) | 3 / 240 | 1 | Snap election |
| Oct 2024[d] | 642,973 | 25.52 (#1) | 1 / 240 | 2 | Coalition |
| Election | Candidate | First round | Second round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Result | ||
| 1992 | Zhelyu Zhelev | 2,273,541 | 44.66 | 1st | 2,738,420 | 52.85 | Won |
| 1996 | Petar Stoyanov | 1,889,825 | 44.07 | 1st | 2,502,517 | 59.73 | Won |
| 2001 | Petar Stoyanov | 991,680 | 34.95 | 2nd | 1,731,676 | 45.87 | Lost |
| 2006 | Nedelcho Beronov | 271,078 | 9.75% | 3rd | - | - | Lost |
| 2011 | Rumen Hristov | 65,761 | 1.95% | 6th[b] | - | - | Lost |
| 2016 | Traycho Traykov | 224,734 | 5.87% | 6th[c] | - | - | Lost |
| 2021 | Anastas Gerdzhikov | 610,862 | 22.8 | 2nd[d] | 733,791 | 31.8 | Lost |
| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Stefan Sofiyanski | 84,350 | 4.35 (#7) | 0 / 18 | New | – |
| 2009[b] | Nadezhda Mihaylova | 204,817 | 7.95 (#6) | 1 / 18 | 1 | EPP |
| 2014[c] | Meglena Kuneva | 144,532 | 6.45 (#5) | 0 / 17 | 1 | – |
| 2019[d] | Mariya Gabriel | 607,194 | 30.13 (#1) | 1 / 17 | 1 | EPP |
| 2024[d] | Rosen Zhelyazkov | 474,059 | 23.55 (#1) | 1 / 17 | 0 |
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