The Democratic Social Party (in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: Partido Democrático Social, PDS) was a conservative

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

 Brazilian political party.

It was established in 1979 as a continuation of the National Renewal Alliance Party

National Renewal Alliance Party

The National Renewal Alliance Party or Aliança Renovadora Nacional was a conservative political party that existed in Brazil between 1966 and 1985...

 (ARENA), the party which supported the 1965-79 Brazilian dictatorship, at a time in which the country turned to be a democracy. In 1985, when Paulo Maluf

Paulo Maluf

Paulo Salim Maluf is a Brazilian politician with a career spanning over four decades and many functions, including those of State Governor of São Paulo, Mayor of the City of São Paulo, Congressman and Presidential candidate. As of 2011, Maluf is on a second consecutive term as Federal Deputy...

 won the party's nomination for the presidential bid, a huge group, led by José Sarney

José Sarney

José Sarney de Araújo Costa is a Brazilian lawyer, writer and politician. He served as president of Brazil from 15 March 1985 to 15 March 1990....

 (former leader of PDS, 1983-84), Jorge Bornhausen

Jorge Bornhausen

Jorge Bornhausen is a Brazilian politician. He was governor of the state of Santa Catarina from 1979 to 1982, and senator for Santa Catarina from 1983 to 1991 and from 1999 to 2007...

 and Marco Maciel

Marco Maciel

Marco Antônio de Oliveira Maciel is a Brazilian politician. He is a lawyer and a law school professor. He was a founder of the conservative PFL party, former ARENA and was twice elected vice-president in the same ticket as center-right President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, in 1994 and 1998...

, founded the Liberal Front Party (PFL).

The Democratic Social Party suffered bad defeats both 1986 (7.9%) and 1990 (8.9%) elections fpr the Chamber of Deputies, when at the same time PFL took 17,7% and 12.4%. In 1986, in particular, the party was seriously defeated also in state elections, so that 12 governorship out of the 12 won in 1982 were lost. In 1985 José Sarney had been elected to the post of Vice-President, but he served from the beginning as President, due to the death of President-elect Tancredo Neves

Tancredo Neves

Tancredo de Almeida Neves, SFO more commonly Tancredo Neves was a Brazilian politician. He was born in São João del Rey, in the state of Minas Gerais, of mostly Portuguese, but also Austrian descent and graduated in law. The Neves family name comes from an Azorean great great grandfather...

.

In 1993 the party, along with the Christian Democratic Party

Christian Democratic Party (Brazil)

The Syndicalist Popular Party was a political party in Brazil founded in 1945. The PDC, a small party supporting traditional Christian values, never achieved electoral success and was banned by the military dictatorship in 1965....

 (3.0% in 1990 elections for the lower house), established a new party called Reform Progressive Party

Reform Progressive Party

The Reform Progressive Party was a Brazilian party, formed by the fusion of the Democratic Social Party and the Christian Democratic Party in 1993. Two years later the party, along with the Progressive Party, formed a new party called Brazilian Progressive Party...

, which was intended to be a moderate-conservative party.