The Latvian Social Democratic Labour Party (Latvian: Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā Stradnieku Partija, abbreviated as LSDSP) is a political party in Latvia. It has a long history but is not represented in the current parliament of Latvia.

History

LSDSP was established in 1904, when Latvia was still a part of Russian Empire. It associated itself with Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, working towards common goals. After Latvia declared independence in 1918, it became a separate Latvian party.

In independent Latvia, it was one of the two most influential political parties (along with Latvian Farmer's Union). LSDSP held 57 out of 150 seats in 1920 Constitutional Assembly (Satversmes Sapulce). It won most seats in every of 4 parliamentary elections of that period (31 out of 100 in 1922, 33 in 1925, 26 in 1928 and 21 in 1931). The leader of LSDSP, Pauls Kalniņš, was the speaker of Latvian parliament from 1925 to 1934. The party itself, however, would often be in opposition because of many smaller right-wing parties forming coalition goverments, typically lead by Latvian Farmer's Union.

LSDSP was banned after 1934 coup by Kārlis Ulmanis and remained banned after Soviet occupation in 1940. When many Latvians left Latvia during World War II, LSDSP was restored as an "exile organization" operating in Sweden in 1945 and, later, other Western countries as well.

LSDSP today

When Latvia became independent again in 1990, LSDSP returned to Latvia. In early 1990s, it struggled with internal splits. At one point, Latvia had 3 social democratic parties, two of them being descendants of LSDSP and the third being the reformed faction of former Communist Party of Latvia. Eventually, all three parties merged, under the name of LSDSP.

The merged party enjoyed some success in parliamentary elections in 1998, winning 14 seats out of 100 and in local elections in 2001, when one of its members, Gundars Bojārs became the mayor of Riga. It was less successful in 2002 general election, where it got only 4% of the vote, and did not make the 5% mininum to get seats.

The party is currently lead by Dainis Īvāns, a former journalist and political activist who was also the chairman of Latvian Popular Front in late 1980s.

See also: Politics of Latvia, List of political parties in Latvia.

External link

• Official page (in Latvian) (http://www.lsdsp.lv)