- Not to be confused with the Christian Social Party (Belgium) 1945-1968
The Humanist Democratic Centre (French: Centre démocrate humaniste, cdH) is a Francophone Christian democratic[1][6][7] political party in Belgium.[8][9] Until 2002, the party was known as the Christian Social Party (French: Parti Social Chrétien, PSC). The cdH currently participates in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Government of the French Community the Walloon Government, and the Belgian federal 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 one seat in the Chamber and kept its two seats in the Senate.
Ideology
Its ideology is the "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.
Electoral results
Federal Parliament
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:12
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:0
PlotData=
bar:% color:orange width:22 mark:(line,white) align:center
bar:1971 from:start till:10.4 text:"10.4"
bar:1974 from:start till:9.1 text:"9.1"
bar:1977 from:start till:7.3 text:"7.3"
bar:1978 from:start till:10.1 text:"10.1"
bar:1981 from:start till:7.2 text:"7.2"
bar:1985 from:start till:8.0 text:"8.0"
bar:1987 from:start till:8.0 text:"8.0"
bar:1991 from:start till:7.7 text:"7.7"
bar:1995 from:start till:7.7 text:"7.7"
bar:1999 from:start till:5.9 text:"5.9"
bar:2003 from:start till:5.5 text:"5.5"
bar:2007 from:start till:6.06 text:"6.06"
bar:2010 from:start till:5.52 text:"5.52"
| Chamber of Representatives (Chambre des Représentants)
|
| Election year
|
# of
overall votes
|
% of
overall vote
|
% of language
group vote
|
# of
overall seats won
|
# of language
group seats won
|
+/–
|
Government
|
| 1995
|
469,101
|
7.7
|
(#3)
|
|
|
|
in coalition
|
| 1999
|
365,318
|
5.9
|
(#4)
|
|
|
 2
|
in opposition
|
| 2003
|
359,660
|
5.5
|
(#3)
|
|
|
2
|
in opposition
|
| 2007
|
404,077
|
6.0
|
(#3)
|
|
|
 2
|
in coalition
|
| 2010
|
360,441
|
5.5
|
(#3)
|
|
|
1
|
in coalition
|
| Senate (Sénat)
|
| Election year
|
# of
overall votes
|
% of
overall vote
|
% of language
group vote
|
# of
overall seats won
|
# of language
group seats won
|
+/–
|
| 1995
|
434,492
|
7.3
|
(#3)
|
|
|
|
| 1999
|
374,002
|
6.0
|
(#4)
|
|
|
 0
|
| 2003
|
362,705
|
5.5
|
(#3)
|
|
|
1
|
| 2007
|
390,852
|
5.9
|
(#3)
|
|
|
0
|
| 2010
|
331,870
|
5.1
|
(#4)
|
|
|
0
|
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
|
| 1989
|
51,904
|
11.9 (#4)
|
|
|
in coalition
|
| 1995
|
38,244
|
9.3 (#3)
|
|
2
|
in opposition
|
| 1999
|
33,815
|
7.9 (#4)
|
|
1
|
in opposition
|
| 2004
|
55,078
|
|
14.1 (#3)
|
|
|
4
|
in coalition
|
| 2009
|
60,527
|
|
14.8 (#4)
|
|
|
1
|
in coalition
|
Walloon Parliament
| Election year
|
# of
overall votes
|
% of
overall vote
|
# of
overall seats won
|
+/–
|
Government
|
| 1995
|
407,741
|
21.6 (#3)
|
|
|
in coalition
|
| 1999
|
325,229
|
17.1 (#4)
|
|
2
|
in opposition
|
| 2004
|
347,348
|
17.6 (#3)
|
|
0
|
in coalition
|
| 2009
|
323,952
|
16.1 (#4)
|
|
1
|
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
|
445,912
|
|
21.2 (#2)
|
|
|
|
| 1984
|
436,108
|
|
19.5 (#3)
|
|
|
1
|
| 1989
|
476,795
|
|
21.3 (#2)
|
|
|
0
|
| 1994
|
420,198
|
|
18.8 (#3)
|
|
|
0
|
| 1999
|
307,912
|
|
13.3 (#4)
|
|
|
1
|
| 2004
|
368,753
|
|
15.2 (#3)
|
|
|
0
|
| 2009
|
327,824
|
|
13.3 (#4)
|
|
|
0
|
References
External links
-
- cdH students
- cdH page on the website of the European People's Party
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