Parti Socialiste (Belgium)


The Socialist Party is a social-democratic French-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the 2014 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party. The party is led by Paul Magnette. The party supplies the Minister-president of the French Community, and the Brussels-Capital Region. In the German-speaking community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei.
The PS is very commonly part of governing coalitions, and dominates most local authorities because of the extremely fragmented nature of Belgian political institutions, particularly in Francophone areas. In the years since 1999, the PS has simultaneously controlled five regional executive bodies: the Government of the French Community, the Walloon Government, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the COCOF, a local subsidiary in Brussels of the French Community Government, and the Government of the German-speaking Community.
The party, or its members, have from time to time been brought into connection with criminal activities and political scandals, mostly concerning bribery and financial fraud. The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as Minister-President of the Walloon region.

Electoral results

The PS performed well in the 2003 general election, but were overtaken as the largest Francophone party by the Reformist Movement in the 2007 general election
In the 10 June 2007 general elections, the party won 20 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the Senate. The PS was a member of the Leterme I Government, Van Rompuy I Government, Leterme II Government and currently the Di Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving as Prime Minister of Belgium.

Timeline

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

ImageSize = width:650 height:210
PlotArea = height:150 left:100 bottom:50 right:100
AlignBars = justify
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:16
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bar:% color:red width:22 mark: align:center
bar:1978 from:start till:13.1 text:"13.1"
bar:1981 from:start till:12.7 text:"12.7"
bar:1985 from:start till:13.8 text:"13.8"
bar:1987 from:start till:15.6 text:"15.6"
bar:1991 from:start till:13.5 text:"13.5"
bar:1995 from:start till:11.9 text:"11.9"
bar:1999 from:start till:10.2 text:"10.2"
bar:2003 from:start till:13.0 text:"13.0"
bar:2007 from:start till:10.86 text:"10.86"
bar:2010 from:start till:13.70 text:"13.70"
bar:2014 from:start till:11.67 text:"11.67"
bar:2019 from:start till:9.46 text:"9.46"

Ideology

The ideology and image of the PS is a mix of social-democracy, combined with a modern electoral marketing.

Notable figures

Chairmen

Federal Parliament

Chamber of Representatives
Senate
Election year# of overall votes% of overall vote% of language
group vote		# of overall seats won# of language
group seats won		+/-Notes
1995764,61012.834.1
1999597,8909.7 1
2003840,90812.8 2
2007678,81210.2 2
2010880,82813.6 3

Regional parliaments

Brussels Parliament

German-speaking Community Parliament

Walloon Parliament

European Parliament

French-speaking electoral college
Election year# of
overall votes		% of
overall vote		% of electoral
college vote		# of
overall seats won		# of electoral
college seats won		+/–
1979575,82410.627.4
1984762,29334.0 1
1989854,20738.1 0
1994680,14230.4 2
1999596,56725.8 0
2004878,57736.1 1
2009714,94729.1 1
2014714,78429,28 0

German-speaking electoral college
Election year# of
overall votes		% of
overall vote		% of electoral
college vote		# of
overall seats won		# of electoral
college seats won		+/–
20045,52714.9
20095,65814.6 0
20145,84115.11 0