Flemish Socialist Party

The Flemish Socialist Party[5][6][7] (Dutch: Socialistische Partij Anders, sp.a;[lower-alpha 1] lit. 'Socialist Party Differently'), soon to be renamed to Forward (Dutch: Vooruit),[8] is a Flemish social-democratic political party in Belgium.[3][9][10][11][12]

Flemish Socialist Party Socialistische Partij Anders
Abbreviation	sp.a
President	Conner Rousseau
Founded	1978
Preceded by	Belgian Socialist Party
Headquarters	Grasmarkt 105/37, Brussels
Youth wing	Young Socialists
Membership (2014)	49,703[1][2]
Ideology	Social democracy[3]
Political position	Centre-left[4]
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Francophone counterpart	Socialist Party
Colours	Red
Chamber of Representatives (Flemish seats)	9 / 87
Senate (Flemish seats)	4 / 35
Flemish Parliament	13 / 124
Brussels Parliament (Flemish seats)	3 / 17
European Parliament (Flemish seats)	1 / 12
Flemish Provincial Councils	18 / 175
Website
s-p-a.be
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections

The party emerged from the Belgian Socialist Party linguistic and community split in 1978 which also produced the Socialist Party. The Belgian Socialist Party was itself formed by former members of the Belgian Labour Party. The party was known until 2001 as the Socialist Party (Dutch: Socialistische Partij, SP).

From December 2011 to September 2014, sp.a was part of the Di Rupo Government, along with its Francophone counterpart Socialist Party. In 2020, it re-entered federal government in the De Croo Government. Sp.a has been part of the Flemish Government several times.

History

1885–1940

1940–1978

Since 1978

The party was the big winner in the 2003 election, running on the SP.A-Spirit joint list (cartel) with the social-liberal party Spirit. Their share of the vote went up from 9% (of the total Belgian vote) to almost 15%, a second place in the number of votes. The main victim of this resurgence was the Green! party (formerly known as Agalev). Sp.a was part of the "purple" federal coalitions of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt from 12 July 1999 until 10 June 2007, which contained both the Flemish and Francophone liberal and social-democratic parties.

In 2004, the sp.a along with its partner Spirit lost the elections for the Flemish Parliament. Although they won more seats in comparison to the Flemish elections of 1999, their percentage of the vote compared to the successful 2003 federal elections was considerably down. The reputation of then party leader Steve Stevaert took a beating too.

The party was briefly led by Caroline Gennez, after former president Steve Stevaert left to become governor of Limburg. Johan Vande Lanotte, who served as Minister of the Budget in the federal Government, was elected President and resigned as minister to become President on 17 October 2005. He resigned 11 June 2007, after sp.a-Spirit lost the elections for the federal parliament of 10 June 2007.[13] In these federal elections, the cartel won 14 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the Senate. Afterwards, Caroline Gennez was elected President by the party members.

As of May 2009, sp.a was in opposition in federal politics. Unlike its Francophone counterpart, the Socialist Party (PS), sp.a was not a participant in the Leterme II Government.

In January 2009, the party had apparently changed its name to Socialists and Progressive Differently (Dutch: Socialisten en Progressieven Anders). This name change was retracted and the party baseline was changed from Social Progressive Alternative (Dutch: Sociaal Progressief Alternatief) to Socialists and Progressive Differently (Dutch: Socialisten en Progressieven Anders).[14]

In the 2010 federal election, sp.a won 13 seats with 9% of the overall vote. The party was a member of the Di Rupo Government formed on 6 December 2011, until the elections in 2014. In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives on 25 May 2014, sp.a scored again 9% and received 13 seats, in contrast to their francophone Socialist Party counterparts, who lost 3 seats and whose share of the vote decreased by 2%. In the Flemish Parliament, sp.a have 18 representatives, deriving from around 14% of the vote—this is a small reduction on the 2009 parliament, where sp.a had 19 seats, deriving from 15% of the popular vote. From 2009–2014, sp.a participated in the Flemish Government, in an uneasy coalition with the CD & V and the N-VA. From 2014 onwards, sp.a formed part of the opposition in Flanders, as the regional government reflected the Flemish component of the federal administration, consisting of coalition of the Open-VLD, CD & V and the N-VA.

In January 2018, the party advocated for a "new socialism" and a "new equality".[15][16]

In September 2020, party leader Conner Rousseau announced a renaming of the party to "Vooruit" (Forwards).[8]

Presidents

Presidents of the SP[17]
Period	President
1978–1989	Karel Van Miert
1989–1994	Frank Vandenbroucke
1994–1998	Louis Tobback
1998–1999	Fred Erdman
1999–2001	Patrick Janssens

Presidents of the sp.a[17]
Period	President	Vice-President
2001–2003	Patrick Janssens
2003–2005	Steve Stevaert	Caroline Gennez
2005	Caroline Gennez (ad interim)	N/A
2005–2007	Johan Vande Lanotte	Caroline Gennez
2007–2011	Caroline Gennez	Dirk Van der Maelen
2011–2015	Bruno Tobback	Joke Quintens
2015–2019	John Crombez	Stephanie Van Houtven
2019–present	Conner Rousseau	Funda Oru

Members holding notable public offices

European politics

European Parliament
Name	Committees
Kathleen Van Brempt	Industry, Research and Energy

Federal politics

Chamber of Representatives
Name	Notes	Name	Notes
Hans Bonte		Monica De Coninck
Maya Detiège		David Geerts
Karine Jiroflée		Meryame Kitir	Faction leader
Fatma Pehlivan		Karin Temmerman
Alain Top		Dirk Van der Maelen
Johan Vande Lanotte		Ann Vanheste
Peter Vanvelthoven

Senate
Type	Name	Notes
Co-opted Senator	Bert Anciaux	Faction leader
Community Senator	Rob Beenders	Replacing Ingrid Lieten, who left politics
Community Senator	Katia Segers
Community Senator	Güler Turan
Community Senator	Bart Van Malderen

Regional politics

Flemish Parliament
Name	Notes	Name	Notes	Name	Notes
Rob Beenders	Community Senator	Jan Bertels		Kurt De Loor
Caroline Gennez		Michèle Hostekint		Yamila Idrissi
Yasmine Kherbache		Renaat Landuyt	Mayor of Bruges	Bert Moyaers	Replaced Ingrid Lieten, who left politics}}
Els Robeyns		Katia Segers	Community Senator	Tine Soens
Bruno Tobback		Güler Turan	Community Senator	Freya Van den Bossche
Bart Van Malderen	Community Senator	Steve Vandenberghe	Replaced John Crombez, who left parliament when he became party leader	Joris Vandenbroucke	Faction leader replacing Daniël Termont, who decided not to combine his mandate as mayor of Ghent with a mandate as parliamentarian

Brussels Regional Government Vervoort I
Public Office	Name	Function
Minister	Pascal Smet	Transport and public works

Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
Name	Notes
Fouad Ahidar
Elke Roux
Jef Van Damme	Replaced Pascal Smet, who became minister in the Brussels Regional government

Provincial politics

Provincial Council
Province	Percentage	Seats
Antwerp	12,80%	10 / 72
Limburg	20,10%°	13 / 63
East Flanders	12,70%	9 / 72
Flemish Brabant	12,10%	8 / 72
West Flanders	15,80%	12 / 72

° In Limburg sp.a formed a cartel with Groen.

Election results

Federal Parliament

The main six Flemish political parties and their results for the Chamber of Representatives from 1978 to 2014 in percentages for the complete kingdom

Chamber of Representatives (Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers)
Election year	No. of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	No. of overall seats won	No. of language group seats won	+/–	Government
1981	744,593	12.4		26 / 212			In opposition
1985	882,200	14.6		32 / 212		6	In opposition
1987	915,432	14.9		32 / 212		0	In coalition
1991	737,976	12.0		28 / 212		4	In coalition
1995	762,444	12.6		20 / 150	20 / 91	8	In coalition
1999	593,372	9.5		14 / 150	14 / 88	6	In coalition
2003*	979,750	14.9	24.9	23 / 150	23 / 88	9	In coalition
2007	684,390	10.3	16.3	14 / 150	14 / 88	9	In opposition
2010	602,867	9.24	14.6	13 / 150	13 / 88	1	In coalition
2014	595,190	8.85	14.04	13 / 150	13 / 87	0	In opposition
2019	455,034	6.71		9 / 150	9 / 87	4	In coalition

Senate (Senaat)
Election year	No. of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	No. of overall seats won	No. of language group seats won	+/–
1981	732,126	12.3		13
1985	868,624	14.5		16		3
1987	896,294	14.7		17		1
1991	730,274	11.9		14		3
1995	792,941	13.2		6 / 40	6 / 25	8
1999	550,657	8.9		4 / 40	4 / 25	2
2003*	1,013,560	15.5	24.9 (1st)	7 / 40	7 / 25	3
2007	665,342	10.0	16.2	4 / 40	4 / 25	3
2010	613,079	9.5	15.3	4 / 40	4 / 25	0

• * In cartel with Spirit

Brussels Parliament

Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest)
Election year	No. of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	No. of overall seats won	No. of language group seats won	+/–	Government
1995	9,987	2.4		2 / 75
1999	13,223	3.1		2 / 75		0
	In cartel with Agalev
2004	11,052		17.7 (3rd)	3 / 89	3 / 17	1	In coalition
	In cartel with Spirit
2009	10,085		19.5 (2nd)	4 / 89	4 / 17	1	In opposition
2014	10,450		19.54 (2nd)	3 / 89	3 / 17	1	In opposition

Flemish Parliament

Flemish Parliament (Vlaams Parlement)
Election year	No. of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	No. of overall seats won	No. of language group seats won	+/–	Government
1995	733,703	19.45 (3rd)		25 / 124			In coalition
1999	582,419	15.00 (4th)		19 / 124		6	In coalition
2004	799,325	19.66 (4th)		22 / 124		3	In coalition
	In cartel with Spirit; 25 seats won by SP.A/Spirit
2009	627,852	15.27 (3rd)		19 / 124		3	In coalition
2014	587,903	13.99 (4th)		18 / 124		1	In opposition

European Parliament

European Parliament (Europees Parlement)
Election year	No. of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of electoral college vote	No. of overall seats won	No. of electoral college seats won	+/–
1979	698,889	12.84	20.90	3 / 24	3 / 13
1984	979,702	17.12	28.13	4 / 24	4 / 13	1
1989	733,242	12.43	20.04	3 / 24	3 / 13	1
1994	651,371	10.92	17.63	3 / 25	3 / 13
1999	550,237	8.84	14.21	2 / 25	2 / 14	1
2004	716,317	11.04	17.83	3 / 24	3 / 14	1
	In cartel with Spirit
2009	539,393	8.22	13.23	2 / 22	2 / 13	1
2014	555,354	8.33	13.18	1 / 21	1 / 12	1

Symbols

• 
  2001–2010
• 
  2010–2018
• 
  2018–present

Notes

1. Dutch pronunciation: [soːʃaː'lɪstisə pɑrˈtɛi̯ ˈɑndərs] (listen)

References

1. "Open VLD heeft de meeste leden en steekt CD&V voorbij". deredactie.be. 30 October 2014.
2. "Open Vld telt meeste leden". De Morgen. 30 October 2014.
3. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Flanders/Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
4. Josep M. Colomer (2008). Comparative European Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-203-94609-1.
5. "sp.a - the Flemish Socialist Party". sp.a. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
6. "Conner Rousseau is the new leader of the Flemish Socialist Party". VRT NWS. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
7. Von der Burchard, Hans (21 May 2018). "Belgian socialist party circulates 'deep fake' Donald Trump video". Politico. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
8. Arnoudt, Rik (9 September 2020). "SP.A verandert binnenkort van naam en gaat "Vooruit" heten". VRT NWS (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 January 2021.
9. Hans Slomp (2011). Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics. ABC-CLIO. p. 465. ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8.
10. Dimitri Almeida (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. CRC Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0.
11. Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko; Matti Mälkiä (2007). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group Inc (IGI). p. 397. ISBN 978-1-59140-790-4.
12. Cas Mudde; Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser (2012). Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat Or Corrective for Democracy?. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-107-02385-7.
13. "Vande Lanotte gooit handdoek in de ring" (in Dutch). VRT. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
14. Naam van sp.a verandert niet, begeleidende slogan wel Archived 20 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine ("Sp.a name doesn't change, baseline does"), GvA, 17 January 2009
15. "Le sp.a pour un "nouveau socialisme" et de "nouvelles égalités" (in French). RTBF. 21 January 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
16. "Le sp.a pour un "nouveau socialisme". Le Vif/L'Express (in French). 21 January 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
17. "sp.a partijvoorzitters". Tijdslijn.s-p-a.be. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2010.

Further reading

• Johan Vande Lanotte (2010), Vlugschrift – over welvaart en geluk, (retrievable on the website sp.a-ledenbeheer), 96 p., ISBN 978-90-486-0629-0.
• Patrick Vander Weyden, Koen Abts (2010), De basis spreekt — onderzoek naar de leden, mandatarissen en kiezers van sp.a (research on members sp.a by Ghent University), Acco (Leuven/Den Haag), 239 p., ISBN 978-90-334-7571-9.

External links

• Media related to Socialistische Partij Anders at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website (Dutch)