List of political parties in Flanders

Flanders has a diverse multi-party political system. Many parties are active, and since end of the 20th century, none succeeds in obtaining more than 1/3 of the votes, let alone a majority. Therefore, parties must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Flemish political parties all operate all over Flanders, covering the Flemish region and the Brussels-Capital Region. In the latter, the compete with Francophone parties that all also operate in Wallonia.

Most current Flemish parties grew from the main political parties that for long dominated Belgian politics: the Catholic Party (Church-oriented and conservative), the Liberal Party (anti-clerical and progressive) and the Socialist Party. These three groups still dominate Flemish politics, but they have evolved substantially in character.

Catholics/Christian Democrats

CD&V

Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) (Christian Democratic and Flemish) is a political party in Flanders, formerly called "Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP)" (Christian People's Party). In coalition with the N-VA, it forms the biggest political force in Flanders. It's Yves Leterme leads the Flemish government.

The CD&V is a centrist Flemish Christian Democratic party, it has a centre- left wing, under the wings of the Union ACW and a centre- right wing. The Cd&V has a confederalist view on Belgium and a business- supported basis. It was in nationally power until 1999. From 2003, it is led by Yves Leterme, and before that was led by Stefaan De Clerck. Now it is led by Jo Vandeurzen.

Nationally, the CD&V leads the opposition to VLD prime minister Guy Verhofstadt who had formed a center-left coalition between liberals, socialists and greens in 1999 on the federal and Flemish government level. In 2003 CD&V again lost the federal elections which continuated the federal center-left coalition, but this time without the Greens. On June 13, 2004 Flemish elections were held alongside European elections. CD&V led by Yves Leterme won these elections, partly by forming a cartel with the moderate nationalist N-VA party, and retook its historic position as largest party in Flanders. On July 20, 2004 Yves Leterme presented the new Flemish government and was sworn into office as the new Minister-President of Flanders. He negotiated a coalition of VLD, SP.A-Spirit and CD&V/N-VA. Since, the CD&V-N-VA coalition continues leading the opinion polls.

History of the Christian-Democrats

The Christian-democratic party has its origins in the 19th century. in that period, it mainly competed with the liberals. They for long took turns in leading Belgian government. By the end of the 19th century, the then emerging socialist party rapidly took an important place in Belgian politics. This continued in the first half of the 20th century. In the thirties, the Christian-democrats started feeling competition from Flemish nationalists.

After World War II, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party severed its formal ties with the Church. It became a mass party of the center, 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 organizations. 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 Yves Leterme. 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 CD&V ("Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams").

ocialists/Social Democrats

The modern Socialist party have lost much of its early Marxist ideology. They are now primarily social-democratic parties similar to the German Social Democratic Party and the British Socialist Party. The Socialists have been part of many postwar governments and have produced some of the country's most distinguished statesmen. The Socialists also split along linguistic lines in 1978.

Johan Vande Lanotte is the current head of the Flemish Socialist Party. 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, the party made a significant shift to the center adopting less controversial stances on foreign policy issues.

Liberals

The Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD, "Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten") who opened up their ranks to Volksunie defectors during the nineties, are currently (anno 2006) the fourth largest political force. The VLD is currently headed by Bart Somers.

The Liberals chiefly appeal to businesspeople, 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.

Linguistic parties

A specific phenomenon are one-issue parties whose only reason for existence is the defense of the cultural, political, and economic interests of one of the communities, see Flemish movement.

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, while the more traditional Flemish nationalist wing continued under the banner "Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie" (NV-A). A year later, a number of prominent Spirit politicians left the party to join the VLD.

Greens

The Flemish (Agalev) ecologists 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 greens 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!. Under vera Dua, the greens also participated in Flemish governments, but after the electoral defeat in 2004, they did not want to rejoin the current Flemish government.

Nationalist

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." The Vlaams Belang is most strident in pursuing a nationalist agenda (Flemish independence). Although the Vlaams Belang has yet to take part in any government, it is consistently polled as the biggest party of Belgium.

Alliances

After the installation of a 5% electoral threshold, 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. Parties in any alliance remain independent, but they would field canditates 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 / NV-A 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 succeed, instead the SP.a / Spirit alliance went to the polls.

The parties

Representative parties

* "Christian-Democratic and Flemish" (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams) -- part of the cartel CD&V/NVA
* "Flemish Interest" (Vlaams Belang)
* "Flemish Liberals and Democrats" (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten)
* "Green!" (Groen!)
* "New-Flemish Alliance" (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie) -- part of the cartel CD&V/NVA.
* "Spirit (Belgium)" -- part of the cartel SP.A-Spirit -- part of the cartel SP.A-Spirit.
* "Socialist Party - Different" (Socialistische Partij - Anders) -- part of the cartel SP.A-Spirit.

Marginal parties

* "Belgische Unie/Union Belge" (Belgian Union)
* "Workers Party of Belgium" (Partij van de Arbeid van Belgiuml/Parti du Travail de Belgique)
* "Vivant" (for individual freedom and work in a new future)
* "Left Socialist Party" (Linkse Socialistische Partij)
* "Movement for a Socialist Alternative" (Mouvement pour une Alternative Socialiste)

List of political parties

* Index of political parties to browse parties by name
* List of political parties to browse parties by country
* List of political parties by ideology to browse parties by name
* Membership of internationals to browse parties by membership of internationals