Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan


The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan is a political party in Kyrgyzstan. Members formed the party on 1 October 1993, but did not register with the Justice Ministry until 16 December 1994. Abdygany Erkebaev served as the party's first chairman. Almazbek Atambayev replaced him on 30 July 1999. The majority of the party's membership is drawn from the country's entrepreneurs.
On 20 May 2004, the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan agreed to join the For Fair Elections electoral alliance. In October 2004, the larger El Party led by Melis Eshimkanov merged with the SDPK in preparation for the February 2005 parliamentary elections.
The party played a visible role in the Tulip Revolution and in large scale rallies in Bishkek in April and November 2006. A leading MP Temir Sariev who joined SDPK in 2006 left the party due to his disagreement with Almazbek Atambaev becoming a prime minister in March 2007.
The SDPK received the votes of 8% of eligible voters in the 2010 parliamentary elections, giving it 26 of 120 seats in parliament. This result made the party the second of five parties to surpass the support threshold of 5% of eligible voters necessary to enter parliament. The party won a plurality 38 of 120 seats in the 2015 parliamentary elections. In 2017 its presidential candidate, Sooronbay Jeenbekov, won the presidential election with 54% of the vote.
In June 2018 the party was admitted into the Socialist International as a full member.

Notable members

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