The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is one of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, the SDLP was consistently the most popular nationalist party in Northern Ireland, but since the Provisional IRA cease-fire in 1994, it has lost ground to its rival Sinn Féin, which, in 2001, became the more popular of the two parties for the first time.
During the T...
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The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP; Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is one of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, the SDLP was consistently the most popular nationalist party in Northern Ireland, but since the Provisional IRA cease-fire in 1994, it has lost ground to its rival Sinn Féin, which, in 2001, became the more popular of the two parties for the first time.
During the Troubles, the party was distinct from Sinn Féin above all in its rejection of violence, in contrast to Sinn Féin's support for the IRA.
The SDLP is also a social democratic party, and is affiliated to the Socialist International. The party's youth group is SDLP Youth. Through the SDLP's membership of the Party of European Socialists, it is a sister party with social democratic parties throughout Europe, including the Irish Labour Party and British Labour Party, and it is understood the parties have an unspoken electoral agreement.
The party...
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