Humanist Democratic Centre
Humanist Democratic Centre Centre démocrate humaniste | |
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President | |
Founded | 1968 |
Preceded by | Christian Social Party |
Headquarters | National secretariat Rue des Deux Églises, Brussels |
Ideology | Factions: |
Political position | Centre[5][6] to centre-right[7][8][9] |
European affiliation | European People's Party |
European Parliament group | European People's Party |
Flemish counterpart | Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) |
German-speaking counterpart | Christian Social Party |
Colours | Brown, Orange |
Chamber of Representatives (French-speaking seats) | 5 / 63 |
Senate (French-speaking seats) | 4 / 24 |
Walloon Parliament | 10 / 75 |
Parliament of the French Community | 11 / 94 |
Brussels Parliament (French-speaking seats) | 6 / 72 |
European Parliament (French-speaking seats) | 1 / 8 |
Website | |
www | |
The Humanist Democratic Centre[10][11] (French: Centre démocrate humaniste, cdH) is a Christian-democratic[12][13][14][15] and humanist[12] French-speaking political party in Belgium.[16][17] 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, and the Government of Wallonia, but not the federal government.
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 Catholic 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 two 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, a result which was repeated in the . In the 2019 general elections the party registered its worst ever performance, winning only 5 seats and 3.7% of the vote, as well as its worst performance in the Walloon and Brussels parliaments as part of the general trend of Belgians turning away from the traditional political parties.
Ideology[]
Its ideology is "democratic humanism, inspired by personalism inherited notably from Christian humanism",[This quote needs a citation] which includes a centre-left policy towards the economy, supporting state interventionism and calling for the unity of Belgium.
Presidents[]
CVP/PSC
- 1945–1947 August De Schryver
- 1949–1950
- 1950–1961 Théo Lefèvre
- 1961–1966 Paul Vanden Boeynants
- 1966–1972 Robert J. Houben
PSC
- 1972–1976 Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
- 1976–1977
- 1977–1979 Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
- 1979–1981 Paul Vanden Boeynants
- 1981–1996 Gérard Deprez
- 1996–1998 Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
- 1998–1999 Philippe Maystadt
- 1999–2002 Joëlle Milquet
cdH
- 2002–2011 Joëlle Milquet
- 2011–2019 Benoît Lutgen
- 2019–present
Until 1968 this lists gives the president of the Walloon part of the unitary CVP/PSC. The party changed its name from PSC to cdH on 18 May 2002.
Electoral results[]
Chamber of Representatives[]
Results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/760bc6a82168e54e762ddfb2d2f329b9.png)
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | 327,393 | 6.2 | 15 / 212
|
Coalition | |
1974 | 478,209 | 9.1 | 22 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1977 | 545,055 | 9.8 | 24 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1978 | 560,440 | 10.1 | 25 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1981 | 390,896 | 6.5 | 18 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1985 | 482,254 | 7.9 | 20 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1987 | 491,908 | 8.0 | 19 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1991 | 476,730 | 7.7 | 18 / 212
|
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Coalition |
1995 | 469,101 | 7.7 | 12 / 150
|
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Coalition |
1999 | 365,318 | 5.9 | 10 / 150
|
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Opposition |
2003 | 359,660 | 5.5 | 8 / 150
|
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Opposition |
2007 | 404,077 | 6.0 | 10 / 150
|
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Coalition |
2010 | 360,441 | 5.5 | 9 / 150
|
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Coalition |
2014 | 336,281 | 5.0 | 9 / 150
|
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Opposition |
2019 | 250,861 | 3.7 | 5 / 150
|
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External support (2020) |
Opposition (2020-) |
Senate[]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971[a] | 1,547,853 | 29.7 | 22 / 106
|
|
1974 | 430,512 | 10.0 | 10 / 106
|
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1977 | 522,613 | 9.5 | 11 / 106
|
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1978 | 535,939 | 9.8 | 12 / 106
|
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1981 | 414,733 | 6.9 | 8 / 106
|
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1985 | 475,119 | 7.9 | 10 / 106
|
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1987 | 474,370 | 7.8 | 8 / 106
|
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1991 | 483,961 | 7.9 | 9 / 106
|
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1995 | 434,492 | 7.3 | 3 / 40
|
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1999 | 374,002 | 6.0 | 3 / 40
|
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2003 | 362,705 | 5.5 | 2 / 40
|
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2007 | 390,852 | 5.9 | 2 / 40
|
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2010 | 331,870 | 5.1 | 2 / 40
|
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- ^ In coalition with Christian People's Party.
Regional[]
Brussels Parliament[]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
F.E.C. | Overall | |||||
1989 | 51,904 | 11.9 (#4) | 9 / 75
|
Coalition | ||
1995 | 38,244 | 9.3 (#3) | 7 / 75
|
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Opposition | |
1999 | 33,815 | 14.1 (#4) | 7.9 (#4) | 6 / 75
|
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Opposition |
2004 | 55,078 | 14.1 (#3) | 12.1 (#3) | 10 / 89
|
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Coalition |
2009 | 60,527 | 14.8 (#4) | 13.1 (#4) | 11 / 89
|
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Coalition |
2014 | 48,021 | 11.7 (#4) | 10.4 (#4) | 9 / 89
|
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Coalition |
2019 | 29,436 | 7.6 (#6) | 6.4 (#6) | 6 / 89
|
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Opposition |
Walloon Parliament[]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 407,741 | 21.6 (#3) | 16 / 75
|
Coalition | |
1999 | 325,229 | 17.1 (#3) | 14 / 75
|
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Opposition |
2004 | 347,348 | 17.6 (#3) | 14 / 75
|
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Coalition |
2009 | 323,952 | 16.1 (#4) | 13 / 75
|
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Coalition |
2014 | 305,281 | 15.2 (#3) | 13 / 75
|
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Coalition |
2019 | 223,775 | 11.0 (#4) | 10 / 75
|
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Opposition |
European Parliament[]
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
F.E.C. | Overall | ||||
1979 | 445,912 | 21.2 (#2) | 8.2 | 3 / 24
|
|
1984 | 436,108 | 19.5 (#3) | 2 / 24
|
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1989 | 476,795 | 21.3 (#3) | 8.1 | 2 / 24
|
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1994 | 420,198 | 18.8 (#3) | 4.9 | 2 / 25
|
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1999 | 307,912 | 13.3 (#4) | 4.9 | 1 / 25
|
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2004 | 368,753 | 15.2 (#3) | 5.7 | 1 / 24
|
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2009 | 327,824 | 13.3 (#4) | 5.0 | 1 / 22
|
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2014 | 276,879 | 11.4 (#4) | 4.1 | 1 / 21
|
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2019 | 218,078 | 8.9 (#5) | 3.2 | 1 / 21
|
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Further reading[]
- Beke, Wouter (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard (eds.). Living Apart Together: Christian Democracy in Belgium. Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War. Leuven University Press. pp. 133–158. ISBN 90-5867-377-4.
- Lamberts, Emiel (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). The Zenith of Christian Democracy: The Christelijke Volkspartij/Parti Social Chrétien in Belgium. Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 59–73. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
References[]
- ^ "Les voies du CDH". RTBF Info. March 19, 2014.
- ^ "Un tract du cdH sérésien assez conservateur". Édition digitale de Mons. March 7, 2018.
- ^ "Maxime Prévot au "Soir": "Si le CDH change de nom, le mot humaniste n'y figurera probablement plus"". Le Soir Plus. August 31, 2019.
- ^ Jadot, Clément (August 29, 2018). "Politique et pékèt : l'interview barquette de Carine Clotuche". Boulettes Magazine.
- ^ Keman, Hans (25 July 2008). "The Low Countries: Confrontation and Coalition in Segmented Societies". In Colomer, Josep M. (ed.). Comparative European Politics (3rd ed.). Routledge. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-134-07354-2.
- ^ Annesley, Claire (2005), Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe, Routledge, p. 179
- ^ "Entre CDH et Défi, des convergences, mais aussi de vrais éléments de blocage".
- ^ "Meurtre du bourgmestre de Mouscron : Le suspect aurait agi pour venger son père".
- ^ "CDH: Tous âges, et au centre-droit". 10 June 2015.
- ^ Baume, Maïa de la (14 October 2016). "Walloon parliament rejects CETA deal". Politico. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Ley, Shaun (28 October 2015). "Cameron cannot assume total support from Poland". BBC News. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Appendix A3: Political Parties" (PDF). European Social Survey (9th ed.). 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
- ^ Hans Slomp (30 September 2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. pp. 465–. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ Thomas Poguntke; Paul Webb (21 June 2007). The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies. Oxford University Press. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-0-19-921849-3. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Colin Hay; Anand Menon (18 January 2007). European Politics. Oxford University Press. pp. 92–. ISBN 978-0-19-928428-3.
- ^ Billiet, Jaak; Maddens, Bart; Frognier, André-Paul (2006). "Does Belgium (still) exist? Differences in political culture between Flemings and Walloons". West European Politics. 29 (5): 912–932. doi:10.1080/01402380600968802. S2CID 154393064.
- ^ Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2009). Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-415-43129-3.
External links[]
Media related to Centre démocrate humaniste at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- cdH students
- cdH page on the website of the European People's Party
- Francophone political parties in Belgium
- Christian democratic parties in Europe
- Catholic political parties
- Conservatism in Belgium
- Conservative parties in Belgium
- Political parties established in 2002
- 2002 establishments in Belgium
- Member parties of the European People's Party
- Centrist parties in Belgium
- Humanist Party