Socialistische Partij Anders

This article is about the Socialist Party of Flanders, Belgium. For other uses, see Socialistische Partij (disambiguation).

Socialist Party Differently Socialistische Partij Anders
President	John Crombez
Founded	1978
Preceded by	Belgian Socialist Party
Headquarters	national secretariat Grasmarkt 105/37 Brussels
Youth wing	Young Socialists
Membership  (2014)	49,703
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance, Socialist International
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Francophone counterpart	Socialist Party
Colours	Red
Chamber of Representatives (Flemish seats)	13 / 87
Senate (Flemish seats)	5 / 35
Flemish Parliament	18 / 124
Brussels Parliament (Flemish seats)	3 / 17
European Parliament (Flemish seats)	1 / 12
Flemish Provincial Councils	51 / 351
Website
www.s-p-a.be
Politics of Belgium Political parties Elections

Socialist Party Differently (<phonos file="Nl-Socialistische Partij Anders.ogg">Socialistische Partij Anders</phonos>, sp.a) is a social-democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. The party, formerly known as the Belgische Socialistische Partij (BSP) 1978–80 and the Socialistische Partij (SP) 1980–2001, had branched off from the Belgian Socialist Party in 1978; the Belgian Socialist Party was itself formed by former members of the Belgian Labour Party. From December 2011 to September 2014, sp.a was part of the Di Rupo Government, along with its Francophone counterpart Socialist Party (PS). Sp.a has been several times part of the Flemish Government.

History

1885–1940

Main article: Belgian Labour Party

1940–1978

Main article: Belgian Socialist Party

1978-now

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). The 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. 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; and 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 Socialisten en Progressieven Anders. This name change was however retracted, and the party baseline instead was changed from "Sociaal Progressief Alternatief" to "Socialisten en Progressieven Anders".

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.

Presidents

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

Presidents sp.a
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–...	John Crombez	Stephanie Van Houtven

Members holding notable public offices

European politics

European Parliament
Name	Committees
Said El Khadraoui	Transport
Kathleen Van Brempt	Industry, Research and Energy

Federal politics

Chamber of Representatives
Name	Notes	Name	Notes
Bruno Tobback	faction leader	Dirk Van der Maelen	vice-president sp.a
Caroline Gennez	president sp.a	Karin Temmerman
Maya Detiège		Bruno Tuybens
David Geerts		Renaat Landuyt
Hans Bonte		Myriam Vanlerberghe
Peter Vanvelthoven	mayor Lommel	Ann Vanheste
Meryame Kitir

Senate
Name	Notes
Johan Vande Lanotte	faction leader
Frank Vandenbroucke
Marleen Temmerman
Bert Anciaux
Guy Swennen	Co-opted Senators
Ludo Sannen	Community Senator
Güler Turan	Community Senator

Regional politics

Flemish Government Peeters II
Public Office	Name	Function
Viceminister-President	Ingrid Lieten	Innovation, Public Investment, Media and Poverty Reduction
Minister	Pascal Smet	Education, Youth, Equal Opportunities and Brussels Affairs
Minister	Freya Van den Bossche	Energy, Housing, Cities and Social Economy

Flemish Parliament
Name	Notes	Name	Notes	Name	Notes
John Crombez	faction leader	Michèle Hostekint		Fatma Pehlivan
Philippe De Coene		Yamila Idrissi		Els Robeyns
Kurt De Loor		Patrick Janssens	mayor of Antwerp	Jan Roegiers
Mia De Vits		Marcel Logist		Güler Turan	Community Senator
Kathleen Deckx		Chokri Mahassine	organiser Pukkelpop	Bart Van Malderen
Steve D'Hulster		Bart Martens		Else De Wachter
Ludo Sannen	Community Senator

Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
Name
Fouad Ahidar	Elke Roex
Sophie Brouhon	Jef Van Damme

Provincial politics

Provincial Council
Province	votes	seats
Antwerp	19,46%	18 / 84
Limburg	25,46%	20 / 75
East Flanders	16,81%	14 / 84
Flemish Brabant	16,20%	14 / 84
West Flanders	20,04%	18 / 84

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	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	# of overall seats won	# 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		13 / 150	13 / 87	0	in opposition

Senate (Senaat)
Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	# of overall seats won	# 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 (#1)	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
2014	N/A	N/A	N/A

• * In cartel with Spirit

Regional parliaments

Brussels Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	# of overall seats won	# 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 (#3)	3 / 89	3 / 17	1	in coalition
	In cartel with Spirit
2009	10,085		19.5 (#2)	4 / 89	4 / 17	1	in opposition

Flemish Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of language group vote	# of overall seats won	# of language group seats won	+/–	Government
1995	733,703	19.45 (#3)		25 / 124			in coalition
1999	582,419	15.00 (#4)		19 / 124		6	in coalition
2004	799,325	19.66 (#4)		22 / 124		3	in coalition
	In cartel with Spirit; 25 seats won by SP.A/Spirit
2009	627,852	15.27 (#3)		19 / 124		3	in coalition

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	% of electoral college vote	# of overall seats won	# 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

See also

• 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

• (Dutch) official website sp.a