The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) is a democratic socialist political party in Moldova which was founded in June 1997 by Veronica Abramciuc and Eduard Smirnov as a splintergroup of the Socialist Party of Moldova. The party failed to achieve electoral success until 2011, when Igor Dodon, the former leader of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, joined the party and was elected as its chairman. The PSRM soon eclipsed the PCRM as the main left-wing party in the country, and it claimed to be a democratic socialist party, while also supporting socially conservative policies such as "family values" and opposition to gay rights. The party was opposed to NATO and the European Union and was supportive of close ties with Russia; likewise, the party opposed union with Romania.