Humanist Democratic Centre

  • Humanist Democratic Centre
  • Christian Social Party
  • Centre Démocrate Humaniste
  • Parti Social Chrétien
AbbreviationCDH, PSC
Founded1968
Registered1972
Dissolved17 March 2022
Preceded byChristian Social Party
Succeeded byLes Engagés
HeadquartersNational secretariat
Rue des Deux Églises, Brussels
Ideology
Pro-Europeanism
Factions:
Political positionCentre[5][6] to centre-right[7][8][9]
Regional affiliationChristian Group[10]
European affiliationEuropean People's Party
European Parliament groupEuropean People's Party
Flemish counterpartChristian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)
German-speaking counterpartChristian Social Party
Colours  Orange
Website
lecdh.be (archived)

Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre Démocrate Humaniste, CDH) was a Christian democratic[11] and centrist French-speaking political party in Belgium.[12][13] The party originated in the split in 1972 of the unitary Christian Social Party (PSC-CVP) which had been the country's governing party for much of the post-war period. It continued to be called the Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, PSC) until 2002 when it was renamed the Humanist Democratic Centre. It was refounded as Les Engagés in 2022.

History

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The PSC was officially founded in 1972. The foundation was the result of the split of the unitary Christian Social 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. A similar split already happened in 1936 when the Catholic Bloc split into the dutchophone Catholic Flemish People's Party and francophone Catholic Social Party. 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 in 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.

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 2014 general elections. 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

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Its ideology was "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, while also containing a centre-right faction on social issues and supporting tougher measures on crime.[14][15] Presently, the party considers itself to be a movement rather than a party, and calls for citizen-led initiatives and more engagement between the public and politicians.[16]

Presidents

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CVP/PSC

PSC

cdH

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

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Chamber of Representatives

[edit]

Results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.

2010 Belgian general election2010 Belgian general election2010 Belgian general election2007 Belgian general election2003 Belgian general election1999 Belgian general election1995 Belgian general election1991 Belgian general election1987 Belgian general election1985 Belgian general election1981 Belgian general election1978 Belgian general election1977 Belgian general election1974 Belgian general election1971 Belgian general election
Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
1971 327,393 6.2
15 / 212
 Coalition
1974 478,209 9.1
22 / 212
 Increase 7 Coalition
1977 545,055 9.8
24 / 212
 Increase 2 Coalition
1978 560,440 10.1
25 / 212
 Increase 1 Coalition
1981 390,896 6.5
18 / 212
 Decrease 7 Coalition
1985 482,254 7.9
20 / 212
 Increase 2 Coalition
1987 491,908 8.0
19 / 212
 Decrease 1 Coalition
1991 476,730 7.7
18 / 212
 Decrease 1 Coalition
1995 469,101 7.7
12 / 150
 Decrease 6 Coalition
1999 365,318 5.9
10 / 150
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2003 359,660 5.5
8 / 150
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2007 404,077 6.0
10 / 150
 Increase 2 Coalition
2010 360,441 5.5
9 / 150
 Decrease 1 Coalition
2014 336,281 5.0
9 / 150
 Steady Opposition
2019 250,861 3.7
5 / 150
 Decrease 4 External support (2020)
Opposition (2020–)

Senate

[edit]
Election Votes % Seats +/-
1971[a] 1,547,853 29.7
22 / 106
1974 430,512 10.0
10 / 106
 Decrease
1977 522,613 9.5
11 / 106
 Increase 1
1978 535,939 9.8
12 / 106
 Increase 1
1981 414,733 6.9
8 / 106
 Decrease 4
1985 475,119 7.9
10 / 106
 Increase 2
1987 474,370 7.8
8 / 106
 Decrease 2
1991 483,961 7.9
9 / 106
 Increase 1
1995 434,492 7.3
3 / 40
 Decrease 6
1999 374,002 6.0
3 / 40
 Steady 0
2003 362,705 5.5
2 / 40
 Decrease 1
2007 390,852 5.9
2 / 40
 Steady 0
2010 331,870 5.1
2 / 40
 Steady 0
  1. ^ In coalition with Christian People's Party.

Regional

[edit]

Brussels Parliament

[edit]
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
 Decrease 2 Opposition
1999 33,815 14.1 (#4) 7.9 (#4)
6 / 75
 Decrease 1 Opposition
2004 55,078 14.1 (#3) 12.1 (#3)
10 / 89
 Increase 4 Coalition
2009 60,527 14.8 (#4) 13.1 (#4)
11 / 89
 Increase 1 Coalition
2014 48,021 11.7 (#4) 10.4 (#4)
9 / 89
 Decrease 2 Coalition
2019 29,436 7.6 (#6) 6.4 (#6)
6 / 89
 Decrease 3 Opposition

Walloon Parliament

[edit]
Election Votes % Seats +/- Government
1995 407,741 21.6 (#3)
16 / 75
 Coalition
1999 325,229 17.1 (#3)
14 / 75
 Decrease 2 Opposition
2004 347,348 17.6 (#3)
14 / 75
 Steady 0 Coalition
2009 323,952 16.1 (#4)
13 / 75
 Decrease 1 Coalition
2014 305,281 15.2 (#3)
13 / 75
 Steady 0 Coalition
2019 223,775 11.0 (#4)
10 / 75
 Decrease 3 Opposition

European Parliament

[edit]
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
 Decrease 1
1989 476,795 21.3 (#3) 8.1
2 / 24
 Steady 0
1994 420,198 18.8 (#3) 4.9
2 / 25
 Steady 0
1999 307,912 13.3 (#4) 4.9
1 / 25
 Decrease 1
2004 368,753 15.2 (#3) 5.7
1 / 24
 Steady 0
2009 327,824 13.3 (#4) 5.0
1 / 22
 Steady 0
2014 276,879 11.4 (#4) 4.1
1 / 21
 Steady 0
2019 218,078 8.9 (#5) 3.2
1 / 21
 Steady 0

Further reading

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  • Beke, Wouter (2004). Steven Van Hecke; Emmanuel Gerard (eds.). Living Apart Together: Christian Democracy in Belgium. Leuven University Press. pp. 133–158. ISBN 90-5867-377-4. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Lamberts, Emiel (2004). Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). The Zenith of Christian Democracy: The Christelijke Volkspartij/Parti Social Chrétien in Belgium. Routledge. pp. 59–73. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

References

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  1. ^ "Les voies du CDH". RTBF Info. March 19, 2014.
  2. ^ "Un tract du cdH sérésien assez conservateur". Édition digitale de Mons. March 7, 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  3. ^ "Maxime Prévot au "Soir": "Si le CDH change de nom, le mot humaniste n'y figurera probablement plus"". Le Soir Plus. August 31, 2019.
  4. ^ Jadot, Clément (August 29, 2018). "Politique et pékèt : l'interview barquette de Carine Clotuche". Boulettes Magazine.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Annesley, Claire (2005), Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe, Routledge, p. 179
  7. ^ "Entre CDH et Défi, des convergences, mais aussi de vrais éléments de blocage". 20 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Meurtre du bourgmestre de Mouscron : Le suspect aurait agi pour venger son père". 12 September 2017. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  9. ^ "CDH: Tous âges, et au centre-droit". 10 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Groupes politiques". Benelux parliament (in French). Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  11. ^ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2009). Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-415-43129-3.
  14. ^ "3000 agents supplémentaires pour lutter contre la fraude et la criminalité financière". 29 March 2022.
  15. ^ "Belgian Political Parties 101". 19 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Le Mouvement".
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