Centre démocrate humaniste

Humanist Democratic Centre Centre démocrate humaniste
Leader	Benoît Lutgen
Founded	1972 (PSC) 2002 (cdH)
Preceded by	PSC and CVP-PSC
Headquarters	National secretariat Rue des Deux Églises, Brussels
Ideology	Christian democracy
Political position	Centre
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
European affiliation	European People's Party
European Parliament Group	European People's Party
Flemish counterpart	Christian Democratic and Flemish
Official colours	Orange
Parliament of the French Community	17 / 93
Walloon Parliament	13 / 75
Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region	11 / 89
Belgian Chamber of Representatives	17 / 150
Belgian Senate	4 / 40
Website
www.lecdh.be

The Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre démocrate humaniste, cdH) is a Francophone Christian democratic political party in Belgium.^[1][2] The cdH currently participates in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Government of the French Community and the Walloon 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 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 2 out of 40 seats in the Senate.

In the 2010 general elections, the party lost 1 seat in the Chamber and kept its 2 seats in the Senate.

Electoral results

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

Ideology

Its ideology is the «democratic humanism, inspired by personalism inherited notably from christian humanism», combined with a centre-left policy towards the economy, supporting state interventionism and calling for the unity of Belgium.

References

1. ^ 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. 
2. ^ Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2009). Political Marketing: Principles and Applications. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 99. ISBN 9780415431293. http://books.google.com/books?id=1MLV7fh60HsC. 

External links

• Official website
• cdH page on the website of the European People's Party