The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (Macedonian: Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија, Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija, SDSM) is a centre-left political party in Macedonia.
It is the successor of the League of Communists of Macedonia, the ruling party during the communist regime which ruled SR Macedonia as a constituent republic of SFR Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. The current party leader is Branko Crvenkovski. From September 1992 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2006 the SDSM was the largest party in the Macedonian parliament and the main party in the government, and has shown a moderate and reconciliatory attitude towards ethnic minorities in Macedonia. Concerning its ideology, it can be said that although the SDSM is a successor of a communist party and claims to be social-democratic, but the influential business lobby in SDSM is moving the party in a neoliberal direction. Consequently, the SDSM has fewer supporters in lower classes and more supporters in upper classes than one can expect from a social-democratic party.
The party lost the 1998 elections, but at the legislative elections, 15 September 2002, the party became the strongest party winning 43 out of 120 seats in the Macedonian Assembly as the major party of the Together for Macedonia alliance, led by SDSM and the Liberal Democratic Party. Together for Macedonia ruled in coalition with the Democratic Union for Integration.
The leader of the party until 2004 and after May 2009 is Branko Crvenkovski, who served as prime minister of Macedonia from 1992 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2004. Crvenkovski was then elected on the Social Democratic ticket to become President of the Republic of Macedonia a post that he held until May 2009. The Presidency was handed to Vlado Bučkovski, who was the party leader and Prime Minister until the 2006 Parliamentary elections. Other prominent members of this party are: Jani Makraduli, Zoran Zaev, Goran Mincev, Nikola Popovski, Ilinka Mitreva, Nikola Kjurkciev and others. The SDSM is a full member of the Socialist International and a PES associate member.
On 30 November 2005 one of the most prominent members of the SDSM, Tito Petkovski, who ran for president in 1999 and came in second place, left the party to form the New Social Democratic Party. This is the second major split from the SDSM, the first one being the 1993 split of Petar Gošev, who has established the Democratic Party.
At the last parliamentary elections in Macedonia, held on 1 June 2008, the coalition Sun (of which SDSM was the leading party) was defeated, receiving 18 of the 120 seats. At the last local elections from 2009, the Social Democrats won in 7 out of 84 municipalities in the country. The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia is the second largest political party and the main opposition party in the country.
In May 2009, after finishing the 5-year-term of President of the Republic of Macedonia, Branko Crvenkovski returned to the SDUM and was reelected leader of the party. He reorganized the party profoundly.
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