Darnussian Socialist Party

The Darnussian Socialist Party (DSP) is a centre-left political party in Darnussia. Since its formation in 1983, it has been the second largest party in the Darnussian Parliament.

The DSP was founded as the merger of several leftist parties in Darnussia in order to create a single coherent left-wing opposition to the hegemony of the ruling National Liberal Party. The four largest parties to merge into the DSP were the Social Labour Party (SLP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Workers' Party (WP) and the National Democratic Labour Party (NDLP). The Communist Party refused to join.

Before 1983, the DSPs predecessors all competed against each other, often splitting the vote. At the 1981 elections, the SLP, SDP and WP gained a combined total of 78 seats, but were unable to form a strong opposition voice in Parliament. The foundation of the DSP had the unusual effect of actually lowering left-wing representation in parliament; due to the cross-spectrum nature of the DSP, many on the centre and far-left felt uncomfortable voting for them, believing them to be either too left-wing or too centrist.

Many centrist voters abandoned them for more centrist and centre-right parties, while the far-left vote that abandoned the DSP were unable to get over the 5% threshold due to vote splitting. It took until the 1991 elections for the DSP to recover the left-wing vote.

The DSP's best result came in the 2016 election, when they won 88 seats out of 301, surpassing their previous best of 81 at the 2001 election. Their core voting base is the mainland-based working-class, as well as some island-based intellectuals. Red Stad and Ghacrow are particular strongholds for the party.