Democratic Socialists party congress, 3696

The Rildanorian Democratic Socialists (SD) won the 3695 elections. Following the third consecutive win of SD presidential candidate and party chairman Vincent Achille, he stepped down as chairman in 3696. This triggered the need for a party congress and fresh elections for the party leadership. The congress was held from the 6th to the 8th of March that year.

Process
It was decided before the convention began that it would last for three days, from the 6th to the 8th of August, and that in that time a new leadership should have been elected, in addition to the party's first presidential primaries.

6 March
On the 6th of March, 3696, 299 members of the party, elected by the party's local branches, its leadership and its members, convened in Labonne, the capital of the country. This marked the beginning of the party congress, which was formally opened by a speech by then-outgoing party chairman and President of the Republic Vincent Achille. Later that day, the delegates were encouraged to register in official yet temporary factions, organising the various ideological tendencies internally within the party. Such a faction required the membership of at least 15 delegates to be recognised, and most of delegates grouped into the following three factions:

7 March
On 7 march, the congress delegates voted to change the name of the party from the previous Socialist Left, to Democratic Socialists. The name change received support from 194 of the 283 delegates who voted on the matter.

Leadership election
In addition to the name change for the party on 7 March, one of the main events of the congress were held that day. The leadership election, which was to determine who would succeed Vincent Achille as party chairperson, was arranged. There were initially four candidates running, but François Royal of the radical Anticapitalist Left faction withdrew and rather endorsed Jean-Luc Martins of the Democrats and Socialists faction. The leadership election was won by then-Prime Minister Jean-Luc Martins. Controversially, he received exactly 50 % of the vote in the first round of voting, which led to many of his supporters claiming that he had won; the rules however stated that a candidate needed at least 50 % + 1 vote in order to win. He still received 160 votes in the runoff, a comfortable 31 votes ahead of his main opponent, Sofie Laurent.

8 March
The last day of the congress was 8 March. On that day, a primary election was scheduled, to decide who would represent the SD in the presidential elections the next year.

Originally, this primary election was expected to be between the two main rivals of the party, newly elected chairman Martins, and former deputy chairman Laurent, both of whom had run in the leadership election the previous day. However, following her second consecutive defeat in a leadership election, Sofie Laurent announced that she would not participate in the primaries. Jean-Marie Alluc from her faction decided to take her place, but never received the endorsement of the Laurent Alliance. Hence, with only one realistic candidate in the primaries, turnout was exceptionally low.

Aftermath
The party congress ended on 8 March, and concluded with the adoption of the party's electoral programme for the upcoming 3697 legislative and presidential elections. The congress itself was widely regarded as a confirmation of the position of the dominating social-democratic faction of the SD, and thus also the continuation of the political orientation and broader legacy of the Achille leadership.