One of the oldest center-left parties in Bulgaria. Party began as the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (BRSDP). Party was banned after the Soviet Red Army crossed the Bulgarian border and seized the government by coup d'etat on September 8, 1944. Party leaders, including Georgi Petkov, managed to escape to London where they restored the BRSDP in 1949 and operated it abroad until the fall of communism in 1989. Party was re-established on Bulgarian soil that year as the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party (BSDP). Party managers are Yordan Nihrizov and Ivelin Yosifov [Българска социалдемократическа партия].
