Founded in 1956 by Jules Koenig, the Mauritian Social Democratic Party is one of the oldest parties in the country. It was known as the Mauritian Union from 1946 to 1956. After the post-colonial era, the PMSD was led by Sir Gaetan Duval from 1967 to 1995. The PMSD is known as the only significant political party which was not in favour of Independence from Great Britain for Mauritius. It started out with a large following in the minority communities such as General Population and Muslims.
Popularity and new leadership
However with the advent of the newly formed MMM in the 1970s, PMSD started to lose popularity. It won 23 seats in the pre-Independence 1967 general elections; at the 1976 elections, it retained only 7. Despite this apparent shrinkage in its base the PMSD managed to form part of ruling government from 1976 to 1982 after contracting an alliance with the Labour Party after the 1976 elections. Soon after the 1968 Independence there was disagreement within the PMSD, which formed part of most of the Opposition in Parliament, regarding the growing rapprochement between the PMSD leader Sir Gaëtan Duval and the Labour leaderSir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. As a result in 1969 a splinter group was formed within PMSD and it was led by Maurice Lesage and Guy Ollivry who had been prominent figures of the PMSD. As a result Maurice Lesage, Guy Ollivry, Raymond Rivet, Cyril Leckning, Clément Roussety and others left PMSD and created their own party Union Démocratique Mauricienne which remained active for a number of years thereafter. In the 1990sGaëtan Duval left PMSD and formed his own splinter party called Parti Gaëtan Duval. In 1999Xavier-Luc Duval also left PMSD to form his new party Parti Mauricien Xavier Duval. In 2000 the PMSD formed part of the historical MSM/MMM alliance as a minority party. It joined the Labour Party-led Social Alliance, which included other allies. In 2009 the PMSD merged with the Parti Mauricien Xavier Duval and retained its old name "PMSD". However Xavier Luc Duval became leader and Maurice Allet became president of the party. The PMSD renewed its focus on the Mauritian Creole community and remained a close ally of the Mauritian Labour Party. In the lead up to elections of 2014, however, the PMSD joined the Alliance Lepep, a coalition comprising the Militant Socialist Movement, the Muvman Liberater, and itself. It won 11 seats. Leading to the November 2019 elections the PMSD joined forces with its historical ally Labour Party to form an alliance called "Alliance Nationale". This alliance secured 14 seats in the Parliament.
