List of political parties in Belgium
Belgium is a federal state 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 governments.
In the late 19th century, the Labour Party arose to represent the emerging industrial working class.
The law of 4 July 1989 on electoral expenses (for Chamber elections) and party financing uses the following definition of a political party: The association of natural persons, either with or without legal personality, that participates in elections defined by the Constitution and by law, that, in accordance with article 117 of the Electoral Code, presents candidates for the office of representative in each electoral district of a Community or Region and that, within the limits of the Constitution, of the law, the decree and the ordinance, aims to influence the expression of the popular will in the way described in its articles or its programme.One non-profit association (vzw/asbl) must be designated in order to receive public funding and provide accounting to an audit committee.
After World War II, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party severed its formal ties with the Church.
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 2002, the PSC changed its name to Centre démocrate humaniste (cdH), and in 2022 again to Les Engagés ('The Committed Ones') abandoning their christian democratic roots.
In Flanders, the New Christian Democrats (NCD) was founded by Johan Van Hecke and Karel Pinxten.
In the 1980s, the Flemish Socialists focused heavily on international issues, and on security in Europe in particular, where they frequently opposed U.S. policies.
The Francophone Parti Socialiste (PS) is mainly based in the industrial cities of Wallonia (Liège, Charleroi, and Mons).
The Liberal Parties chiefly appeal to businesspeople, property owners, shopkeepers, and the self-employed, in general.
[2] The Mouvement Réformateur (MR) is the equivalent party on the Francophone side, and is headed by Georges-Louis Bouchez.
[4] 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 Goovaerts (Veilig Blauw), senator Hugo Coveliers (VLOTT), chief of the High Supervisory Committee Willy Vermeulen (Verstandig Rechts), VLD board member Boudewijn Bouckaert (Cassandra vzw) and senator Jean-Marie Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker, LDD).
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.
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.
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.
After a disappointing result in the regional elections of 2009, the Social Liberal Party decided to merge with the Flemish ecologists of Groen!.
The German-speaking Pro deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft (ProDG) is the successor of the hard-line Partei der Deutschsprachigen Belgier (PDB).
The Flemish (Agalev) and Francophone (Ecolo) ecologist parties made their parliamentary breakthrough in 1981.
The foremost Flemish party in Belgium is the Vlaams Belang, which was founded in 2004, after its predecessor was condemned by a High Court for "permanent incitation to discrimination and racism."
Officially, it was a bilingual party, but in reality, it was a purely French-speaking group, although it did support Belgian federalism.
