Centre démocrate humaniste
- Not to be confused with the Christian Social Party (1945–1968).
Humanist Democratic Centre | |
---|---|
CDh Party logo | |
President | Benoît Lutgen |
Founded | 1968 |
Preceded by | Christian Social Party |
Headquarters | National secretariat Rue des Deux Églises, Brussels |
Ideology | Christian democracy[1] Christian humanism[2] Centrism[3] |
Political position | Centre[4][5][6] to Centre-left[2] |
European affiliation | European People's Party |
International affiliation | None |
European Parliament group | European People's Party |
Flemish counterpart | Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) |
Colours | Brown, Orange |
Chamber of Representatives (French-speaking seats) |
9 / 63
|
Senate (French-speaking seats) |
4 / 24
|
Walloon Parliament |
13 / 75
|
Parliament of the French Community |
16 / 94
|
Brussels Parliament (French-speaking seats) |
8 / 72
|
European Parliament (French-speaking seats) |
1 / 8
|
Website | |
www.lecdh.be | |
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections |
The Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre démocrate humaniste, cdH) is a Christian democratic[7][8][9] French-speaking political party in Belgium.[10][11] Until 2002, the party was known as the Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, PSC). The cdH currently participates in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Government of the French Community the Walloon Government, but no longer, following the May 2014 national elections, the Belgian federal government.
Contents
History
The PSC was officially founded in 1972. The foundation was the result of the split of the unitary Christian Social Party–Christian People's Party (PSC-CVP) into the Dutch-speaking Christian People's Party (CVP) and the French-speaking Christian Social Party (PSC), following the increased linguistic tensions after the crisis at the University of Leuven in 1968. The PSC performed particularly badly in the 1999 general election. This was linked to several scandals, such as the escape of Marc Dutroux and the discovery of dioxine in chickens (the PSC was a coalition partner in the Dehaene government). The decline in votes was also explained by declining adherence to Catholicism. The party was confined to opposition on all levels of government.
The party started a process of internal reform. In 2001 a new charter of principles the "Charter of Democratic Humanism" was adopted and 2002 the party adopted a new constitution and a new name, Humanist Democratic Centre.
In the 2003 general election the party did not perform much better and was still confined to opposition. After the 2004 regional elections the party returned to power in Brussels, in Walloon Region and the French Community together with the Socialist Party and Ecolo in Brussels, and with the Socialist Party in Walloon Region and the French Community. The current president of the party is Joëlle Milquet.
In the 2007 general elections, the party won 10 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 2 out of 40 seats in the Senate.
In the 2010 general elections, the party lost one seat in the Chamber and kept its two seats in the Senate.
Ideology
Its ideology is the "democratic humanism, inspired by personalism inherited notably from christian humanism", which includes a centre-left policy towards the economy, supporting state interventionism and calling for the unity of Belgium.
Electoral results
Federal Parliament
Results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
Chamber of Representatives (Chambre des Représentants) | |||||||
Election year | # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
% of language group vote |
# of overall seats won |
# of language group seats won |
+/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 469,101 | 7.7 | (#3) |
12 / 150
|
12 / 59
|
in coalition | |
1999 | 365,318 | 5.9 | (#4) |
10 / 150
|
10 / 59
|
2 | in opposition |
2003 | 359,660 | 5.5 | (#3) |
8 / 150
|
8 / 62
|
2 | in opposition |
2007 | 404,077 | 6.0 | (#3) |
10 / 150
|
10 / 62
|
2 | in coalition |
2010 | 360,441 | 5.5 | (#3) |
9 / 150
|
9 / 62
|
1 | in coalition |
2014 | 336,281 | 5.0 | (#3) |
9 / 150
|
9 / 63
|
in opposition |
Senate (Sénat) | |||||||
Election year | # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
% of language group vote |
# of overall seats won |
# of language group seats won |
+/– | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 434,492 | 7.3 | (#3) |
3 / 40
|
3 / 15
|
||
1999 | 374,002 | 6.0 | (#4) |
3 / 40
|
3 / 15
|
0 | |
2003 | 362,705 | 5.5 | (#3) |
2 / 40
|
2 / 15
|
1 | |
2007 | 390,852 | 5.9 | (#3) |
2 / 40
|
2 / 15
|
0 | |
2010 | 331,870 | 5.1 | (#4) |
2 / 40
|
2 / 15
|
0 |
Regional parliaments
Brussels Parliament
Election year | # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
% of language group vote |
# of overall seats won |
# of language group seats won |
+/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | 51,904 | 11.9 (#4) |
9 / 75
|
in coalition | |||
1995 | 38,244 | 9.3 (#3) |
7 / 75
|
2 | in opposition | ||
1999 | 33,815 | 7.9 (#4) |
6 / 75
|
1 | in opposition | ||
2004 | 55,078 | 14.1 (#3) |
10 / 89
|
10 / 72
|
4 | in coalition | |
2009 | 60,527 | 14.8 (#4) |
11 / 89
|
11 / 72
|
1 | in coalition |
Walloon Parliament
Election year | # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 407,741 | 21.6 (#3) |
16 / 75
|
in coalition | |
1999 | 325,229 | 17.1 (#4) |
14 / 75
|
2 | in opposition |
2004 | 347,348 | 17.6 (#3) |
14 / 75
|
0 | in coalition |
2009 | 323,952 | 16.1 (#4) |
13 / 75
|
1 | in coalition |
European Parliament
Election year | # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
% of electoral college vote |
# of overall seats won |
# of electoral college seats won |
+/– |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | 445,912 | 21.2 (#2) |
3 / 24
|
3 / 11
|
||
1984 | 436,108 | 19.5 (#3) |
2 / 24
|
2 / 11
|
1 | |
1989 | 476,795 | 21.3 (#2) |
2 / 24
|
2 / 11
|
0 | |
1994 | 420,198 | 18.8 (#3) |
2 / 25
|
2 / 10
|
0 | |
1999 | 307,912 | 13.3 (#4) |
1 / 25
|
1 / 10
|
1 | |
2004 | 368,753 | 15.2 (#3) |
1 / 24
|
1 / 9
|
0 | |
2009 | 327,824 | 13.3 (#4) |
1 / 22
|
1 / 8
|
0 |
Further reading
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References
- ↑ Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing French-language text
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- Official website not in Wikidata
- Francophone political parties in Belgium
- Christian democratic parties in Europe
- Catholic political parties
- Political parties established in 2002
- 2002 establishments in Belgium
- Member parties of the European People's Party