Belgium, 1945 Christian Social Party
The Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, or PSC; Dutch: Christelijke Volkspartij, CVP) was a major centre-right political party in Belgium which existed from 1945 until 1968.
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2010) |
Christian Social Party—Christian People's Party Christelijke Volkspartij Parti Social Chrétien | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Francophone logo, used c.1958 | |
| Historical leaders | Jean Duvieusart (first) Jean-Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers (last) |
| Founded | August 18, 1945 |
| Dissolved | 1968 |
| Preceded by | Catholic Block |
| Succeeded by | Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP), Parti social chrétien (PSC) |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre |
| European affiliation | Christian Democrat group |
| International affiliation | Christian Democrat International |
| Colours | Orange Black |
Established as the successor to the pre-war Catholic Block, the PSC-CVP was established after the Liberation of Belgium with an explicitly "deconfessionalised" orientation in the Christian Democratic tradition. It remained the largest party in Belgian politics throughout much of its existence and was the last party in Belgian history to gain an outright majority in the 1950 elections. It provided a number of influential prime ministers and participated in most coalition governments in combination with the Belgian Socialist Party and the Liberal Party or its successor the Party for Freedom and Progress.
Amid rising regionalist tensiions, the PSC-CVP's regional parties split along linguistic lines in 1968 to form the Francophone Christian Social Party (Parti Social Chrétien, PSC) and Flemish Christian People's Party (Christelijke Volkspartij, CVP).
History
At the end of World War II, on 18–19 August 1945 the Parti Social Chrétien-Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP-PSC) was founded under the presidency of August de Schryver as the successor to the Catholic Party.
In 1968, the party divided along linguistic lines, forming the Francophone Christian Social Party (Parti Social Chrétien) in Wallonia and the Flemish Christian People's Party (Christelijke Volkspartij) in Flanders.
Election results
Chamber of Representatives
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | 1,006,293 | 42.5 | 92 / 202 |  19 |  1st | Opposition |
| 1949 | 2,190,895 | 43.6 | 105 / 212 | 13 | 1st | Christian Social-Liberal coalition |
| 1950 | 2,356,608 | 47.7 | 108 / 212 | 3 | 1st | Majority government |
| 1954 | 2,123,408 | 41.2 | 95 / 212 |  13 | 1st | Opposition |
| 1958 | 2,465,549 | 46.5 | 104 / 212 | 9 | 1st | Minority government until November 1958, later Christian Social-Liberal coalition |
| 1961 | 2,182,642 | 41.5 | 96 / 212 | 8 | 1st | Christian Social-Socialist coalition |
| 1965 | 1,785,211 | 34.5 | 77 / 212 | 19 | 1st | Christian Social-Socialist coalition until March 1966, later Christian Social-Liberal coalition |
| 1968 | 1,643,785 | 31.8 | 69 / 212 | 8 | 1st | Christian Social-Socialist coalition |
Notable members
See also
References
Further reading
- Lamberts, Emiel (2004). "The Zenith of Christian Democracy: The Christelijke Volkspartij/Parti Social Chrétien in Belgium". In Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser (eds.). Christian Democracy in Europe since 1945. Routledge. pp. 59–73. ISBN 0-7146-5662-3.
- Beke, Wouter (2005). De ziel van een zuil. De Christelijke Volkspartij 1945-1968. Leuven: Leuven University Press. ISBN 9789058674982.
- Conway, Martin (1996). "Belgium". In Buchanan, Tom; Conway, Martin (eds.). Political Catholicism in Europe, 1918–1965. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 187–218. ISBN 9780198203193.
External links
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Christian Social Party (Belgium, 1945), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.