List of political parties in Belgium
Encyclopedia
Belgium
is a federation
with a multi-party political system, with numerous parties who factually have no chance of gaining power alone, and therefore must work with each other to form coalition government
s.
Almost all Belgian
political parties
are divided into linguistic groups, either Dutch
-speaking parties (see also List of political parties in Flanders), Francophone
parties or Germanophone parties.
The Flemish parties operate in Flanders
and in the Brussels-Capital Region. The Francophone parties operate in Wallonia and in the Brussels-Capital Region. There are also parties operating in the comparatively small German-speaking community
. No party family has a realistic chance of winning enough seats to govern alone, let alone win an outright majority.
Political parties are thus organised along community lines, especially for the three main communities. There are no representative parties active in both communities. Even in Brussels
, all parties presenting candidates are either Flemish parties, or French-speaking. As such, the internal organisation of the political parties reflects the fundamentally dual nature of Belgian society.
There are no significant parties left who exist, or operate on a national, Belgian level.
From the creation of the Belgian state in 1830 and throughout most of the 19th century, two political parties dominated Belgian politics: the Catholic Party
(Church-oriented and conservative
) and the Liberal Party
(anti-clerical
and progressive
). In the late 19th century the Labour Party
arose to represent the emerging industrial working class. These three groups still dominate Belgian politics, but they have evolved substantially in character.
, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party
severed its formal ties with the Church. It became a mass party of the centre, somewhat like a political party in the United States.
In 1968, the Christian Democratic Party, responding to linguistic tensions in the country, divided into two independent parties: the Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) in French-speaking Belgium and the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) in Flanders. The two parties pursue the same basic policies but maintain separate organisations. The CVP is the larger of the two, getting more than twice as many votes as the PSC. The chairman of the Flemish Catholic party is now Wouter Beke
. MP and Brussels Alderman Joëlle Milquet
is president of the Francophone Catholic party. Following the 1999 general elections, the CVP and PSC were ousted from office, bringing an end to a 40-year term on the government benches. In 2001, the CVP changed its name to Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V). In 2002, the PSC also changed its name to Centre démocrate humaniste (cdH).
After the big losses in the 1999 general elections, when both CVP and PSC were banished to the opposition benches, some party members decided to leave the mother parties in order to form a new liberal-conservative
party. In Flanders
, the New Christian Democrats (NCD) was founded by Johan Van Hecke
and Karel Pinxten. In Wallonia, the Citizens' Movement for Change
(MCC) was founded by Gérard Deprez
. Both parties soon joined the major liberal parties, respectively the VLD in Flanders and the MR in Wallonia.
. They have lost much of their early Marxist
trends. They are now primarily labour-based parties similar to the German Social Democratic Party
and the French Socialist Party
. The Socialists have been part of several postwar governments and have produced some of the country's most distinguished statesmen. The Socialists also split along linguistic lines in 1978. Bruno Tobback
is the current head of the Flemish Socialist Party and Elio Di Rupo
is the current president of the Francophone Socialists. In general, the Walloon Socialists tend to concentrate on domestic issues. In the eighties, the Flemish Socialists focused heavily on international issues, and on security in Europe in particular, where they frequently opposed U.S. policies. However, first with Willy Claes
, then Frank Vandenbroucke and with Erik Derycke
as Foreign Minister
, all three Flemish Socialists, the party made a significant shift to the centre adopting less controversial stances on foreign policy issues.
The Francophone Parti Socialiste
(PS) is mainly based in the industrial cities of Wallonia (Liège, Charleroi
, and Mons
). The Flemish Socialists' support is less regionally concentrated. The Flemish Socialists changed their party's name to Socialistische Partij Anders (SP.a) in 2002.
Recently, because of grassroots allegations about the party's "too little Socialist stand" in many political issues, a radical party wing broke away from the motherparty and formed, with support from smaller leftist parties, the Committee for Another Policy
(CAP). Within the SP.a, the more marxist SP.a-Rood, is trying to change the course of the party.
There are two Liberal parties, formed along linguistic lines: The Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
(VLD) who opened up their ranks to Volksunie and CD&V defectors some years ago, managed to break the dominance of CD&V over Belgian politics in 1999. The VLD is currently headed by Alexander De Croo
. The Mouvement Réformateur (MR) on the Francophone side is headed by Charles Michel
. The MR is a federation composed of the Christian-democratic split-off, MCC
and the Brussels-based FDF which is particularly strong electorally in Brussels.
Recently, the Flemish liberal party faced several high-ranking elected officials breaking away in order to found new "right-liberal" parties: MEP Ward Beysen
(Liberaal Appèl, LA), senator Leo Govaerts (Veilig Blauw), senator Hugo Coveliers
(VLOTT
), VLD board member Boudewijn Bouckaert
(Cassadra vzw) and senator Jean-Marie Dedecker
(Lijst Dedecker, LDD).
party in Belgium was founded by the more radical elements of the Belgian Labour Party
in 1921 and was named the Communist Party of Belgium
(KPB-PCB). The party was a member of the Comintern
and entered parliament in 1925. It received its highest score in the post-war elections of 1946
, when it won 12,7% of the popular vote and took part in the next coalition government. With the start of the Cold War
the party started its decline and after the elections of 1985
it was no longer represented in the Belgian Parliament
. The party eventually disbanded itself in 1989, but two minor parties, the Kommunistische Partij
(KP) in Flanders and the Parti Communiste
(PC) in Wallonia, see themselves as the successors.
The most successful Maoist
movement to emerge in Belgium was All Power To The Workers (AMADA-TPO) at the end of the 1960s
during a time of students protests at the University of Leuven
. In 1979 this movement evolved into the Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB), which is at the moment the biggest communist party in Belgium and is represented in various municipal councils, but not in any of the parliaments in Belgium.
Other minor communist or radical left parties are the Trotskyist
Revolutionary Communist League
(LCR-SAP) and the Left Socialist Party
(LSP-PSL).
.
The most militant Flemish regional party in Parliament in the 1950s and 1960s, the Volksunie (VU), once drew nearly one-quarter of Belgium's Dutch-speaking electorate away from the traditional parties. The Volksunie was in the forefront of a successful campaign by the country's Flemish population for cultural and political parity with the nation's long dominant French-speaking population. However, in recent elections the party has suffered severe setbacks. In October 2001 the party disintegrated. The left-liberal wing founded Spirit, later called the Social Liberal Party, while the more traditional Flemish nationalist wing continued under the banner Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA). After a disappointing result in the regional elections of 2009
, the Social Liberal Party decided to fuse with the Flemish ecologists of Groen!
The Fédéralistes Démocrates Francophones (FDF) is a Brussels French-speaking Belgian political party that aims to defend and expand linguistic rights of French-speaking people in and around Brussels. It has affiliated with the Mouvement Réformateur, a liberal alliance party.
The Union des Francophones
(UF) is an electoral list combining the major Belgian Francophone parties for the regional elections.
) ecologist parties made their parliamentary breakthrough in 1981. They focus heavily on environmental issues and are the most consistent critics of U.S. policy. Following significant gains made in the 1999 general elections, the two green parties joined a federal coalition cabinet for the first time in their history, but were ousted after the next elections. Agalev subsequently changed its name to Groen!
, which was founded in 2004, after its predecessor was condemned by a High Court for "permanent incitation to discrimination and racism." On the far right, the Flanders separatist party Vlaams Blok steadily rose in the 1980s and 1990s. The other parties except the fortuynist
party VLOTT
maintain a cordon sanitaire
on the Vlaams Belang as they did the Vlaams Blok. Although other parties in Belgium are supportive of Flemish and Dutch cultural issues, the Vlaams Belang is most strident in pursuing a secessionist agenda, for Flemish independence.
In Wallonia, the Front National
(FN) is the largest Wallonian party, having a largely anti-immigrant agenda. Officially, it is a bilingual party, but in reality, it is a purely French-speaking group, although it does support Belgian federalism.
speaking parties do not play an important role on federal level. The main German speaking parties are the christian-democratic Christlich-Soziale Partei
(CSP), the liberal Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt
(PFF), the social-democratic Sozialistische Partei (SP) and regionalist Pro deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (ProDG).
, with private funding close to forbidden and public funding only for parties with at least one representative in parliament, some of the smaller parties have made alliances with a larger, more traditional party, especially in the Flemish Region. Parties in any alliance remain independent, but they would field candidates on one combined list at elections. In general, the smaller party/parties would be assured of gaining seats, and the larger party would be assured of obtaining a larger overall share of the vote. This was especially true for the CD&V/N-VA alliance, whereby CD&V became the largest party by votes in the Flemish regional elections, so therefore it could initiate coalition talks and the party could appoint the leader of the Flemish regional government. The VLD/Vivant alliance did not perform well in the polls. The proposed SP.a/Spirit/Groen! alliance did not happen, instead the SP.a/Spirit alliance went to the polls, although the tripartite cartel became reality in some constituencies on the local level in the October 2006 municipal elections.
Sources:
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
is a federation
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
with a multi-party political system, with numerous parties who factually have no chance of gaining power alone, and therefore must work with each other to form coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
s.
Almost all Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
are divided into linguistic groups, either Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
-speaking parties (see also List of political parties in Flanders), Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
parties or Germanophone parties.
The Flemish parties operate in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and in the Brussels-Capital Region. The Francophone parties operate in Wallonia and in the Brussels-Capital Region. There are also parties operating in the comparatively small German-speaking community
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities of Belgium. Covering an area of 854 km² within the province of Liège in Wallonia, it includes nine of the eleven municipalities of the so-called East Cantons...
. No party family has a realistic chance of winning enough seats to govern alone, let alone win an outright majority.
Political parties are thus organised along community lines, especially for the three main communities. There are no representative parties active in both communities. Even in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, all parties presenting candidates are either Flemish parties, or French-speaking. As such, the internal organisation of the political parties reflects the fundamentally dual nature of Belgian society.
There are no significant parties left who exist, or operate on a national, Belgian level.
From the creation of the Belgian state in 1830 and throughout most of the 19th century, two political parties dominated Belgian politics: the Catholic Party
Catholic Party (Belgium)
The first Catholic Party in Belgium was established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party .-History:In 1852 a Union Constitutionelle et Conservatrice was founded in Ghent, in Leuven , and in Antwerp and Brussels in 1858, which were active only during elections...
(Church-oriented and 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...
) and the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Belgium)
The Liberal Party was a Belgian political party that existed from 1846 until 1961, when it became the Party for Freedom and Progress, Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang/Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès or PVV-PLP, under the leadership of Omer Vanaudenhove.-History:The Liberal Party was founded...
(anti-clerical
Anti-clericalism
Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
and progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
). In the late 19th century the Labour Party
Belgian Labour Party
The Belgian Labour Party, called Belgische Werkliedenpartij in Dutch and Parti Ouvrier Belge in French, was the first socialist party in Belgium, founded in 1885.-History:...
arose to represent the emerging industrial working class. These three groups still dominate Belgian politics, but they have evolved substantially in character.
Catholics/Christian Democrats
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party
Catholic Party (Belgium)
The first Catholic Party in Belgium was established in 1869 as the Confessional Catholic Party .-History:In 1852 a Union Constitutionelle et Conservatrice was founded in Ghent, in Leuven , and in Antwerp and Brussels in 1858, which were active only during elections...
severed its formal ties with the Church. It became a mass party of the centre, somewhat like a political party in the United States.
In 1968, the Christian Democratic Party, responding to linguistic tensions in the country, divided into two independent parties: the Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) in French-speaking Belgium and the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) in Flanders. The two parties pursue the same basic policies but maintain separate organisations. The CVP is the larger of the two, getting more than twice as many votes as the PSC. The chairman of the Flemish Catholic party is now Wouter Beke
Wouter Beke
Wouter Beke is a Belgian politician and a member of the CD&V. He was reelected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007.Wouter Beke studied Social Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Political Sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven...
. MP and Brussels Alderman Joëlle Milquet
Joëlle Milquet
Joëlle F.G.M. Milquet is a Belgian politician from the Humanist Democratic Centre .-Education:...
is president of the Francophone Catholic party. Following the 1999 general elections, the CVP and PSC were ousted from office, bringing an end to a 40-year term on the government benches. In 2001, the CVP changed its name to Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V). In 2002, the PSC also changed its name to Centre démocrate humaniste (cdH).
After the big losses in the 1999 general elections, when both CVP and PSC were banished to the opposition benches, some party members decided to leave the mother parties in order to form a new liberal-conservative
Liberal conservatism
Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
party. In Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, the New Christian Democrats (NCD) was founded by Johan Van Hecke
Johan Van Hecke
Johan Jozef Marie Clara Van Hecke is a Belgian politician and Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade.He is also a...
and Karel Pinxten. In Wallonia, the Citizens' Movement for Change
Citizens' Movement for Change
Citizens' Movement for Change is a Christian Democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez. It is a component of the Mouvement Réformateur....
(MCC) was founded by Gérard Deprez
Gérard Deprez
Gérard M.J. Deprez is a Belgian politician andex-Member of the European Parliament for the French Community of Belgiumwith the MR/MCC/PRL,part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sits on...
. Both parties soon joined the major liberal parties, respectively the VLD in Flanders and the MR in Wallonia.
Socialists/Social Democrats
The modern Belgian Socialist parties are the descendants of the Belgian Labour PartyBelgian Labour Party
The Belgian Labour Party, called Belgische Werkliedenpartij in Dutch and Parti Ouvrier Belge in French, was the first socialist party in Belgium, founded in 1885.-History:...
. They have lost much of their early Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
trends. They are now primarily labour-based parties similar to the German Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
and the French Socialist Party
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...
. The Socialists have been part of several postwar governments and have produced some of the country's most distinguished statesmen. The Socialists also split along linguistic lines in 1978. Bruno Tobback
Bruno Tobback
Bruno Tobback was the Minister of Environment and Pensions in the Belgian federal government from 2004 until 2007. He is a Flemish socialist and member of the Different Socialist Party , and the son of former minister and current Mayor of Leuven Louis Tobback...
is the current head of the Flemish Socialist Party and Elio Di Rupo
Elio Di Rupo
Elio Di Rupo is a Belgian social-democratic politician and the Party Leader of the Socialist Party .-Biography:...
is the current president of the Francophone Socialists. In general, the Walloon Socialists tend to concentrate on domestic issues. In the eighties, the Flemish Socialists focused heavily on international issues, and on security in Europe in particular, where they frequently opposed U.S. policies. However, first with Willy Claes
Willy Claes
Willem Werner Hubert "Willy" Claes was the eighth Secretary General of NATO and a Belgian politician. He was a member of the Flemish Socialist Party....
, then Frank Vandenbroucke and with Erik Derycke
Erik Derycke
Erik A.N. Derycke is a Flemish socialist politician, lawyer, former minister and a current judge at the Constitutional Court of Belgium.Derycke was awarded a licence in law by the University of Gent in 1972...
as Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
, all three Flemish Socialists, the party made a significant shift to the centre adopting less controversial stances on foreign policy issues.
The Francophone Parti Socialiste
Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)
The Socialist Party is a Francophone social-democratic political party in Belgium. As of the 2010 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party...
(PS) is mainly based in the industrial cities of Wallonia (Liège, Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
, and Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
). The Flemish Socialists' support is less regionally concentrated. The Flemish Socialists changed their party's name to Socialistische Partij Anders (SP.a) in 2002.
Recently, because of grassroots allegations about the party's "too little Socialist stand" in many political issues, a radical party wing broke away from the motherparty and formed, with support from smaller leftist parties, the Committee for Another Policy
Committee for Another Policy
The Committee for Another Policy , abbreviated to CAP, is a Belgian left-wing political movement that was established in 2005, and became a political party since 2006.-Formation:...
(CAP). Within the SP.a, the more marxist SP.a-Rood, is trying to change the course of the party.
Liberals/Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Parties chiefly appeal to businesspeople, property owners, shopkeepers, and the self-employed, in general. In the terms generally used in English-speaking countries, Belgian liberals would be called "moderate conservatives", "fiscal conservatives" and "social liberals".There are two Liberal parties, formed along linguistic lines: The Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten
Flemish Liberals and Democrats
' , commonly known as Open VLD and also simply as the VLD, is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium, created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress and a few other politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999...
(VLD) who opened up their ranks to Volksunie and CD&V defectors some years ago, managed to break the dominance of CD&V over Belgian politics in 1999. The VLD is currently headed by Alexander De Croo
Alexander De Croo
Alexander De Croo is a Flemish liberal politician, economist and businessman. He was elected chairman of his political party on 12 December 2009.- Biography :...
. The Mouvement Réformateur (MR) on the Francophone side is headed by Charles Michel
Charles Michel
Charles Michel was an American ophthalmologist best known for publishing the first clinical report of successful electrology in 1875.Michel was practicing in St. Louis, Missouri, when he began using a battery-powered needle epilator to treat trichiasis in 1869...
. The MR is a federation composed of the Christian-democratic split-off, MCC
Citizens' Movement for Change
Citizens' Movement for Change is a Christian Democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez. It is a component of the Mouvement Réformateur....
and the Brussels-based FDF which is particularly strong electorally in Brussels.
Recently, the Flemish liberal party faced several high-ranking elected officials breaking away in order to found new "right-liberal" parties: MEP Ward Beysen
Ward Beysen
Eduard Marie August "Ward" Beysen was a Belgian politician and well-known freemason. He held a degree in Dutch and history teaching, obtained in 1963 in Lier and started his political career in the seventies in the Flemish liberal party, the Party for Freedom and Progress , which was renamed...
(Liberaal Appèl, LA), senator Leo Govaerts (Veilig Blauw), senator Hugo Coveliers
Hugo Coveliers
Hugo F.V. Coveliers is a Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives between 1985 and 1995 and from 1993 to 2003. Since 2003 he has been a member of the Belgian Senate...
(VLOTT
VLOTT
VLOTT is a Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. The acronym VLOTT stands for Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent . It was founded on November 23, 2005 by ex-Flemish Liberals and Democrats member Hugo Coveliers...
), VLD board member Boudewijn Bouckaert
Boudewijn Bouckaert
Boudewijn Bouckaert is a Belgian law professor, a member of the Flemish Movement, and a libertarian conservative thinker and politician. He chairs the academic board of the LIB-ERA! think tank and serves as Member of the Flemish Parliament for the liberal party List Dedecker...
(Cassadra vzw) and senator Jean-Marie Dedecker
Jean-Marie Dedecker
Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker is a Belgian Flemish politician.In 1999 and 2003, Dedecker was directly elected to the Belgian Senate. In 2004 Dedecker ran for a seat in the Flemish Parliament, after taking his seat in the Flemish Parliament, Dedecker was elected by his colleagues as a community senator...
(Lijst Dedecker, LDD).
Communists
The first communistCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
party in Belgium was founded by the more radical elements of the Belgian Labour Party
Belgian Labour Party
The Belgian Labour Party, called Belgische Werkliedenpartij in Dutch and Parti Ouvrier Belge in French, was the first socialist party in Belgium, founded in 1885.-History:...
in 1921 and was named the Communist Party of Belgium
Communist Party of Belgium
Communist Party of Belgium was a political party in Belgium. The youth wing of KPB/PCB was known as the Communist Youth of Belgium. The party published Le Drapeau Rouge in French and De Roode Vaan in Dutch.- History :It was formed at a congress in Anderlecht on September 3-4 1921...
(KPB-PCB). The party was a member of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and entered parliament in 1925. It received its highest score in the post-war elections of 1946
Belgian general election, 1946
General elections were held in Belgium on 17 February 1946. The result was a victory for the Christian Social Party, which won 92 of the 202 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 51 of the 101 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 90.3%....
, when it won 12,7% of the popular vote and took part in the next coalition government. With the start of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
the party started its decline and after the elections of 1985
Belgian general election, 1985
The 13 October 1985 Belgian general elections was a Belgian election for the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and Belgian Senate....
it was no longer represented in the Belgian Parliament
Belgian Federal Parliament
The Belgian Federal Parliament is a bicameral parliament. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate . It sits in the Palace of the Nation .- Chamber of Representatives :...
. The party eventually disbanded itself in 1989, but two minor parties, the Kommunistische Partij
Communist Party (Flanders)
The Communist Party is a political party in Flanders, Belgium. It was founded in 1989 in the aftermath of the split of the Communist Party of Belgium along linguistic lines. The political secretary of the KP is Jaak Perquy.The KP publishes a newspaper, Agora...
(KP) in Flanders and the Parti Communiste
Communist Party (Wallonia)
Communist Party is a political party in Wallonia, Belgium. PC was founded in 1989 as the Communist Party of Belgium was bifurcated along linguistic lines. The president of PC is Pierre Beauvois....
(PC) in Wallonia, see themselves as the successors.
The most successful Maoist
Maoism
Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...
movement to emerge in Belgium was All Power To The Workers (AMADA-TPO) at the end of the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
during a time of students protests at the University of Leuven
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...
. In 1979 this movement evolved into the Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA-PTB), which is at the moment the biggest communist party in Belgium and is represented in various municipal councils, but not in any of the parliaments in Belgium.
Other minor communist or radical left parties are the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
Revolutionary Communist League
Revolutionary Communist League (Belgium)
The Revolutionary Communist League or Socialist Workers' Party is a Belgian Trotskyist political party...
(LCR-SAP) and the Left Socialist Party
Left Socialist Party (Belgium)
The Left Socialist Party is a political party in Belgium without parliamentary representation. It is the Belgian section of the Committee for a Workers' International, a Trotskyist International.It was formed in 1992 as 'Militant Links' and fights for the right of the workers and the people in...
(LSP-PSL).
Linguistic parties
A specific phenomenon in Belgium was the emergence of one-issue parties whose only reason for existence was the defence of the cultural, political, and economic interests of one of the linguistic groups or regions of Belgian society. See Flemish movementFlemish movement
The Flemish Movement is a popular term used to describe the political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, and for the over-all protection of Flemish culture and history....
.
The most militant Flemish regional party in Parliament in the 1950s and 1960s, the Volksunie (VU), once drew nearly one-quarter of Belgium's Dutch-speaking electorate away from the traditional parties. The Volksunie was in the forefront of a successful campaign by the country's Flemish population for cultural and political parity with the nation's long dominant French-speaking population. However, in recent elections the party has suffered severe setbacks. In October 2001 the party disintegrated. The left-liberal wing founded Spirit, later called the Social Liberal Party, while the more traditional Flemish nationalist wing continued under the banner Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA). After a disappointing result in the regional elections of 2009
Belgian regional elections, 2009
Regional elections were held in Belgium on 7 June 2009 to choose representatives in the regional councils of Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...
, the Social Liberal Party decided to fuse with the Flemish ecologists of Groen!
The Fédéralistes Démocrates Francophones (FDF) is a Brussels French-speaking Belgian political party that aims to defend and expand linguistic rights of French-speaking people in and around Brussels. It has affiliated with the Mouvement Réformateur, a liberal alliance party.
The Union des Francophones
Union des Francophones
The Union of Francophones is a Belgian electoral list which participates in regional, provincial and municipal elections in the Flemish Province of Flemish Brabant...
(UF) is an electoral list combining the major Belgian Francophone parties for the regional elections.
Greens
The Flemish (Agalev) and Francophone (EcoloEcolo
Ecolo is a French-speaking Belgian green political party in Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...
) ecologist parties made their parliamentary breakthrough in 1981. They focus heavily on environmental issues and are the most consistent critics of U.S. policy. Following significant gains made in the 1999 general elections, the two green parties joined a federal coalition cabinet for the first time in their history, but were ousted after the next elections. Agalev subsequently changed its name to Groen!
Nationalists
The foremost Flemish party in Belgium is the Vlaams BelangVlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
, which was founded in 2004, after its predecessor was condemned by a High Court for "permanent incitation to discrimination and racism." On the far right, the Flanders separatist party Vlaams Blok steadily rose in the 1980s and 1990s. The other parties except the fortuynist
Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....
party VLOTT
VLOTT
VLOTT is a Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. The acronym VLOTT stands for Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent . It was founded on November 23, 2005 by ex-Flemish Liberals and Democrats member Hugo Coveliers...
maintain a cordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire
Cordon sanitaire — or quarantine line — is a French phrase that, literally translated, means "sanitary cordon". Though in French it originally denoted a barrier implemented to stop the spread of disease, it has often been used in English in a metaphorical sense to refer to attempts to prevent the...
on the Vlaams Belang as they did the Vlaams Blok. Although other parties in Belgium are supportive of Flemish and Dutch cultural issues, the Vlaams Belang is most strident in pursuing a secessionist agenda, for Flemish independence.
In Wallonia, the Front National
National Front (Belgium)
The National Front is a francophone Belgian far-right political party. The party's ideology advocates a strong unitary Belgian nationalism and is strongly against immigration.The party's acting leader is Patrick Cocriamont....
(FN) is the largest Wallonian party, having a largely anti-immigrant agenda. Officially, it is a bilingual party, but in reality, it is a purely French-speaking group, although it does support Belgian federalism.
German community
The GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
speaking parties do not play an important role on federal level. The main German speaking parties are the christian-democratic Christlich-Soziale Partei
Christian Social Party (Belgium)
The Christian Social Party is a party operating in the German-speaking community of Belgium. Its President is Mathieu Grosch.In the 2004 European Parliament election, standing as Christlich-Soziale Partei - Europäische Volkspartei, the party gained the single seat allocated by Belgian law to the...
(CSP), the liberal Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt
Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt
The Party for Freedom and Progress is a regional liberal party in Belgium, only active in the tiny German-speaking Community of Belgium....
(PFF), the social-democratic Sozialistische Partei (SP) and regionalist Pro deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (ProDG).
Alliances
After the installation of a 5% electoral thresholdElection threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
, with private funding close to forbidden and public funding only for parties with at least one representative in parliament, some of the smaller parties have made alliances with a larger, more traditional party, especially in the Flemish Region. Parties in any alliance remain independent, but they would field candidates on one combined list at elections. In general, the smaller party/parties would be assured of gaining seats, and the larger party would be assured of obtaining a larger overall share of the vote. This was especially true for the CD&V/N-VA alliance, whereby CD&V became the largest party by votes in the Flemish regional elections, so therefore it could initiate coalition talks and the party could appoint the leader of the Flemish regional government. The VLD/Vivant alliance did not perform well in the polls. The proposed SP.a/Spirit/Groen! alliance did not happen, instead the SP.a/Spirit alliance went to the polls, although the tripartite cartel became reality in some constituencies on the local level in the October 2006 municipal elections.
Flemish
- Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams/CD&V (Christian-Democratic and Flemish)
- Groen! (Green!)
- Lijst Dedecker/LDD (List Dedecker)
- Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie/N-VA (New Flemish Alliance)
- Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) -- an alliance of:
- Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten/VLD (Flemish Liberals and Democrats)
- Liberaal AppèlLiberaal AppèlThe Liberal Appeal is a Flemish right-liberal political party.Founded on March 22, 2002 by the liberal MEP Ward Beysen as a secession of the VLD, mostly in Antwerp. The Liberaal Appèl was first a movement, then became a full-fledged political party on January 20, 2003...
(Liberal Appeal) - VivantVivantVivant is a small Belgian social liberal party founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats . Both parties are founded on the principle of individualism and can be called liberal...
(For Individual Freedom and Work in a New Future) (Bilingual party)
- Socialistische Partij Anders/SP.A (Socialist Party – Different)
- Vlaams BelangVlaams BelangVlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
/VB (Flemish Interest) -- cartel partner of VLOTT. - VLOTTVLOTTVLOTT is a Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. The acronym VLOTT stands for Flemish Liberal Independent Tolerant and Transparent . It was founded on November 23, 2005 by ex-Flemish Liberals and Democrats member Hugo Coveliers...
-- cartel partner of Vlaams Belang.
Francophone
- Centre Démocrate Humaniste/CdH (Humanist Democratic Centre)
- EcoloEcoloEcolo is a French-speaking Belgian green political party in Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking Community of Belgium...
- Mouvement Réformateur/MR (Reformist Movement) – an alliance of:
- Parti Réformateur Libéral/PRL (Liberal Reformist Party)
- Mouvement des Citoyens pour le Changement/MCC (Citizens' Movement for Change)
- Fédéralistes Démocrates Francophones/FDF (Francophone Democratic Federalists)
- Partei für Freiheit und FortschrittPartei für Freiheit und FortschrittThe Party for Freedom and Progress is a regional liberal party in Belgium, only active in the tiny German-speaking Community of Belgium....
/PFF (Party for Liberty and Progress)
- Front NationalNational Front (Belgium)The National Front is a francophone Belgian far-right political party. The party's ideology advocates a strong unitary Belgian nationalism and is strongly against immigration.The party's acting leader is Patrick Cocriamont....
/FN (National Front) - Parti SocialisteSocialist Party (francophone Belgium)The Socialist Party is a Francophone social-democratic political party in Belgium. As of the 2010 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party...
/PS (Socialist Party)
German
- Christlich Soziale ParteiChristian Social Party (Belgium)The Christian Social Party is a party operating in the German-speaking community of Belgium. Its President is Mathieu Grosch.In the 2004 European Parliament election, standing as Christlich-Soziale Partei - Europäische Volkspartei, the party gained the single seat allocated by Belgian law to the...
/CSP (Christian Social Party) - Partei für Freiheit und FortschrittPartei für Freiheit und FortschrittThe Party for Freedom and Progress is a regional liberal party in Belgium, only active in the tiny German-speaking Community of Belgium....
/PFF (Party for Freedom and Progress) -- part of the MR - ProDG (Party of German-speaking Belgians)
Bilingual/Unitarian
- Belgische Unie - Union BelgeBelgian UnionBelgische Unie – Union Belge , known by the acronym BUB, is a small political party in Belgium. As one of the only political parties organised across the entire country, it wishes to abolish the federal system in Belgium and re-establish a unitary state based on the original nine provinces...
/BUB (Belgian Union) - Club républicain wallon pour l'Indépendance, la Dignité et la Liberté de la Wallonie
- Comité voor een Andere Politiek - Comité pour une Autre PolitiqueCommittee for Another PolicyThe Committee for Another Policy , abbreviated to CAP, is a Belgian left-wing political movement that was established in 2005, and became a political party since 2006.-Formation:...
/CAP (Committee for Another Policy) - Front nouveau de Belgique/FNB (New Front of Belgium)
- Internationaal Verzet - Résistance Internationale (International Resistance)
- Internationale Arbeidersliga - Ligue Internationale des TravailleursInternational Workers' League (Belgium)International Workers' League is a small Belgian Trotskyist party of Morenist tradtition.-External links:* *...
(International Workers' League) - Ligue communiste révolutionnaire - Socialistische ArbeiderspartijRevolutionary Communist League (Belgium)The Revolutionary Communist League or Socialist Workers' Party is a Belgian Trotskyist political party...
/LCR-SAP (Revolutionary Communist League) - Linkse Socialistische Partij - Parti Socialiste de LutteLeft Socialist Party (Belgium)The Left Socialist Party is a political party in Belgium without parliamentary representation. It is the Belgian section of the Committee for a Workers' International, a Trotskyist International.It was formed in 1992 as 'Militant Links' and fights for the right of the workers and the people in...
/LSP-PSL (Left Socialist Party) - Rassemblement Wallonie-FranceRassemblement Wallonie-FranceThe Rassemblement Wallonie France is a small political party in Belgium. It is active in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. In Brussels it is known as the Rassemblement Bruxelles France or RBF...
- Parti Humaniste - Humanistische Party/PH-HP (Humanist Party)
- Partij van de Arbeid van België - Parti du Travail de Belgique/PVDA-PTB (Workers' Party of Belgium)
Others
- Kommunistische Partij/KPCommunist Party (Flanders)The Communist Party is a political party in Flanders, Belgium. It was founded in 1989 in the aftermath of the split of the Communist Party of Belgium along linguistic lines. The political secretary of the KP is Jaak Perquy.The KP publishes a newspaper, Agora...
(Communist Party) - Moslim Democratische Partij/MDP (Muslim Democratic Party)
- Natuurwetpartij/NWP (Natural Law Party)
- NEENEENEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
(NO) - Nieuwe Christen-Democraten/NCD (New Christian Democrats)
- Parti Communiste/PCCommunist Party (Wallonia)Communist Party is a political party in Wallonia, Belgium. PC was founded in 1989 as the Communist Party of Belgium was bifurcated along linguistic lines. The president of PC is Pierre Beauvois....
(Communist Party) - Sociaal-Liberale Democraten/SoLiDe (Social-Liberal Democrats)
- Veilig Blauw (Safe Blue)
Sources:
See also
- List of political parties by country
- Liberalism in BelgiumLiberalism in BelgiumThis article gives an overview of liberalism in Belgium. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme...
- Politics of BelgiumPolitics of BelgiumPolitics of Belgium takes place in a framework of a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, whereby the King of the Belgians is the Head of State and the Prime Minister of Belgium is the head of government in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by...
- Politics of FlandersPolitics of FlandersFlanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.Historically, the contemporary Flemish community grew out of the Catholic southern part of the medieval XVII provinces of the Low Countries. The contemporary Belgian Flanders area...
- Politics of WalloniaPolitics of WalloniaThe Politics of Wallonia concern the government of Wallonia, that is the southern Region of Belgium.The capital is Namur, where are the seats of the Government of Wallonia, the Parliament of Wallonia and the Public Service of Wallonia.-Structures:...