Political parties in Flanders
By the end of the 19th century, the then emerging socialist party rapidly took an important place in Belgian politics.
After World War II, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party severed its formal ties with the Church.
Following the 1999 federal elections, the CVP and PSC were ousted from office, bringing an end to a 40-year term on the government benches.
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 Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, VLD) who opened up their ranks to Volksunie defectors during the 1990s, was successful during that period and formed governments with Guy Verhofstadt as Prime Minister.
The Liberals chiefly appeal to business-people, property owners, shopkeepers, and the self-employed, in general.
In American terms the Liberals' economic positions would be considered to reflect a moderate conservative ideology.
These parties advocated classical liberal economics and a more rightwing approach to society, and accused the VLD of shifting fundamentally to the left.
The foremost nationalist party in Flanders is the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), which was founded in 2004, after its predecessor Vlaams Blok (Flemish Block) was condemned by a High Court for "permanent incitation to discrimination and racism."
After a disappointing result in the regional elections of 2009, the Social Liberal Party decided to fuse with the Flemish ecologists of Groen.
The Union des Francophones (UF) is a Belgian electoral list which participates in regional, provincial and municipal elections in the Brussels Periphery, which is the part of the province of Flemish Brabant surrounding the bilingual Brussels Region.
Parties in any alliance remain independent, but they would field candidates on one combined list at elections.
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.
CD&V had the highest number of members (followed by the other two traditional parties) from its founding until the 2010s, when its membership decreased rapidly and sunk below Open Vld.
