History
The party emerged after the collapse of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights. In its first election, in 1992, the party won 20.2% of the vote, giving it seven seats in the fifteen-seat Gibraltar Parliament.
At the 2000 election, the Social Democrats won eight of fifteen seats.
The party merged with the Gibraltar Labour Party in 2005, retaining the GSD name. The merger was unpopular with many members of both parties, causing some high profile members to resign their membership, including deputy leader Keith Azopardi and executive member Nick Cruz, who went on to form the Progressive Democratic Party.
At the 2007 election to the Gibraltar Parliament, the GSD polled 49.33% of the vote and were returned 10 (out of 17) members, the standard number required to run the legislature under the current constitution.
Read more about this topic: Gibraltar Social Democrats
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