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.
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Abbreviation | CDH, PSC |
Founded | 1968 |
Registered | 1972 |
Dissolved | 17 March 2022 |
Preceded by | Christian Social Party |
Succeeded by | Les Engagés |
Headquarters | National secretariat Rue des Deux Églises, Brussels |
Ideology | Pro-Europeanism Factions: |
Political position | Centre[5][6] to centre-right[7][8][9] |
Regional affiliation | Christian Group[10] |
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 | Orange |
Website | |
lecdh.be (archived) | |
History
editThe 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
editIts 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
editCVP/PSC
- 1945–1947 August De Schryver
- 1949–1950 François-Xavier van der Straten-Waillet
- 1950–1961 Théo Lefèvre
- 1961–1966 Paul Vanden Boeynants
- 1966–1972 Robert J. Houben
PSC
- 1972–1976 Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb
- 1976–1977 Georges Gramme
- 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
- 2019–2022 Maxime Prévot
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
editChamber of Representatives
editResults for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/bl1d1hdi0po1j2s2nswcotzffe1xg2b.png)
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1971 | 327,393 | 6.2 | 15 / 212
|
Coalition | |
1974 | 478,209 | 9.1 | 22 / 212
|
7 | Coalition |
1977 | 545,055 | 9.8 | 24 / 212
|
2 | Coalition |
1978 | 560,440 | 10.1 | 25 / 212
|
1 | Coalition |
1981 | 390,896 | 6.5 | 18 / 212
|
7 | Coalition |
1985 | 482,254 | 7.9 | 20 / 212
|
2 | Coalition |
1987 | 491,908 | 8.0 | 19 / 212
|
1 | Coalition |
1991 | 476,730 | 7.7 | 18 / 212
|
1 | Coalition |
1995 | 469,101 | 7.7 | 12 / 150
|
6 | Coalition |
1999 | 365,318 | 5.9 | 10 / 150
|
2 | Opposition |
2003 | 359,660 | 5.5 | 8 / 150
|
2 | Opposition |
2007 | 404,077 | 6.0 | 10 / 150
|
2 | Coalition |
2010 | 360,441 | 5.5 | 9 / 150
|
1 | Coalition |
2014 | 336,281 | 5.0 | 9 / 150
|
Opposition | |
2019 | 250,861 | 3.7 | 5 / 150
|
4 | External support (2020) |
Opposition (2020–) |
Senate
editElection | Votes | % | Seats | +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|
1971[a] | 1,547,853 | 29.7 | 22 / 106
|
|
1974 | 430,512 | 10.0 | 10 / 106
|
|
1977 | 522,613 | 9.5 | 11 / 106
|
1 |
1978 | 535,939 | 9.8 | 12 / 106
|
1 |
1981 | 414,733 | 6.9 | 8 / 106
|
4 |
1985 | 475,119 | 7.9 | 10 / 106
|
2 |
1987 | 474,370 | 7.8 | 8 / 106
|
2 |
1991 | 483,961 | 7.9 | 9 / 106
|
1 |
1995 | 434,492 | 7.3 | 3 / 40
|
6 |
1999 | 374,002 | 6.0 | 3 / 40
|
0 |
2003 | 362,705 | 5.5 | 2 / 40
|
1 |
2007 | 390,852 | 5.9 | 2 / 40
|
0 |
2010 | 331,870 | 5.1 | 2 / 40
|
0 |
- ^ In coalition with Christian People's Party.
Regional
editBrussels Parliament
editElection | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
F.E.C. | Overall | |||||
1989 | 51,904 | 11.9 (#4) | 9 / 75
|
Coalition | ||
1995 | 38,244 | 9.3 (#3) | 7 / 75
|
2 | Opposition | |
1999 | 33,815 | 14.1 (#4) | 7.9 (#4) | 6 / 75
|
1 | Opposition |
2004 | 55,078 | 14.1 (#3) | 12.1 (#3) | 10 / 89
|
4 | Coalition |
2009 | 60,527 | 14.8 (#4) | 13.1 (#4) | 11 / 89
|
1 | Coalition |
2014 | 48,021 | 11.7 (#4) | 10.4 (#4) | 9 / 89
|
2 | Coalition |
2019 | 29,436 | 7.6 (#6) | 6.4 (#6) | 6 / 89
|
3 | Opposition |
Walloon Parliament
editElection | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 407,741 | 21.6 (#3) | 16 / 75
|
Coalition | |
1999 | 325,229 | 17.1 (#3) | 14 / 75
|
2 | Opposition |
2004 | 347,348 | 17.6 (#3) | 14 / 75
|
0 | Coalition |
2009 | 323,952 | 16.1 (#4) | 13 / 75
|
1 | Coalition |
2014 | 305,281 | 15.2 (#3) | 13 / 75
|
0 | Coalition |
2019 | 223,775 | 11.0 (#4) | 10 / 75
|
3 | Opposition |
European Parliament
editElection | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
F.E.C. | Overall | ||||
1979 | 445,912 | 21.2 (#2) | 8.2 | 3 / 24
|
|
1984 | 436,108 | 19.5 (#3) | 2 / 24
|
1 | |
1989 | 476,795 | 21.3 (#3) | 8.1 | 2 / 24
|
0 |
1994 | 420,198 | 18.8 (#3) | 4.9 | 2 / 25
|
0 |
1999 | 307,912 | 13.3 (#4) | 4.9 | 1 / 25
|
1 |
2004 | 368,753 | 15.2 (#3) | 5.7 | 1 / 24
|
0 |
2009 | 327,824 | 13.3 (#4) | 5.0 | 1 / 22
|
0 |
2014 | 276,879 | 11.4 (#4) | 4.1 | 1 / 21
|
0 |
2019 | 218,078 | 8.9 (#5) | 3.2 | 1 / 21
|
0 |
Further reading
edit- 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
edit- ^ "Les voies du CDH". RTBF Info. March 19, 2014.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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". 20 May 2023.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "CDH: Tous âges, et au centre-droit". 10 June 2015.
- ^ "Groupes politiques". Benelux parliament (in French). Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "3000 agents supplémentaires pour lutter contre la fraude et la criminalité financière". 29 March 2022.
- ^ "Belgian Political Parties 101". 19 March 2018.
- ^ "Le Mouvement".
External links
edit- Media related to Centre démocrate humaniste at Wikimedia Commons
- Official Website
- cdH students
- cdH page on the website of the European People's Party