The Italian Democratic Social Party (Partito Democratico Sociale Italiano, PDSI) was a social-liberal political party in Italy.
It was formed for the 1919 general election by the union of the Constitutional Democratic Party with several other parties of the liberal left. In that occasion the PDSI, that was especially strong in Southern Italy, gained 10.9% of the vote and 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, while in 1921 it won 4.7% of the vote and 29 seats. The party took part to the governments of Benito Mussolini until July 1924 as other liberal groups and was later disbanded. After World War II some of its members joined the Labour Democratic Party, a centre-left outfit.
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