The Socialist Party ( , PS; ) is a social democratic French-speaking and German-speaking political party in Belgium. As of the 2024 elections, it is the fourth largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the second largest Francophone party. The party is led by Paul Magnette. The party supplies the minister-president of the French Community (Rudy Demotte), and the Brussels-Capital Region (Rudi Vervoort). In the German-speaking Community, the party is known as the Sozialistische Partei (SP).
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 (Cools assassination, Agusta scandal, Dassault affair, Carolorégienne affair, ICDI affair). The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as minister-president of Wallonia.
Ideology The PS is a social democratic political party. It is generally positioned in the centre-left or left of the political spectrum.
On its current platform, the party identifies as progressive and eco-socialist. It advocates for traditional socialist values such as equality, social justice, and (international) solidarity. It is also committed to tax reform, better and more accessible health care, expanding the social safety net, and strengthening women's rights.
Electoral positioning During the 2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB, UCLouvain and ULB) — studied the electoral programmes of Belgium's thirteen main political parties. This study classified the parties on two "left-right" axes, from "-5" (extreme left) to "5" (extreme right): a "classic" socio-economic axis, which refers to state intervention in the economic process and the degree to which the state should ensure social equality, and a socio-cultural axis, which refers to a divide articulated around an identity-based opposition on themes such as immigration, Europe, crime, the environment, emancipation, etc.
The PS then presented the most left-wing programme, along with the PTB, on the socio-economic level (−4.43), and also left-wing on the socio-cultural level (−3.41).
The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the 2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. The PS's positioning shifted towards the centre, while remaining on the left, on the socio-economic axis (−3.57) and remained unchanged on the socio-cultural axis (−3.46).
Presidents Sources: 1978–1981: André Cools 1981–1992: Guy Spitaels 1992–1999: Philippe Busquin 1999–2011: Elio Di Rupo 2011–2013: Thierry Giet (ad interim) 2013–2014: Paul Magnette (ad interim) 2014–2019: Elio Di Rupo 2019–present: Paul Magnette
Representation in EU institutions In the European Parliament, the PS sits in the S&D group with two MEPs: Elio Di Rupo and Estelle Ceulemans.
Election results The PS performed well in the 2003 general election but was 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 Di Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving as prime minister of Belgium.
Chamber of Representatives Election Votes % Seats +/− Government 1978 689,876 12.5 1981 733,137 12.2 4 1985 834,488 13.8 0 1987 961,361 15.6 5 1991 831,199 13.5 5 1995 720,819 11.9 14 1999 631,653 10.2 2 2003 855,992 13.0 6 2007 724,787 10.9 5 2010 894,543 13.7 6 2014 787,165 11.7 3 2019 641,623 9.5 3 2024 561,602 8.0 4
Timeline Results for the Chamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
Senate Election Votes % Seats +/− 1978 685,307 12.5 1981 755,512 12.7 1 1985 832,792 13.9 0 1987 958,686 15.7 2 1991 814,136 13.3 2 1995 764,610 12.8 13 1999 597,890 9.7 1 2003 840,908 12.8 2 2007 678,812 10.2 2 2010 880,828 13.6 3
Regional Brussels Parliament Election Votes % Seats +/− Government Overall 1989 96,189 22.0 (#1) 1995 88,370 21.4 (#2) 1 1999 68,307 18.6 (#3) 16.0 (#3) 4 2004 130,462 33.4 (#1) 28.7 (#1) 13 2009 107,303 26.2 (#2) 23.3 (#2) 5 2014 108,755 26.6 (#1) 23.5 (#1) 2019 85,530 22.0 (#1) 18.7 (#1) 4 2024 85,929 22.1 (#2) 1
Walloon Parliament Election Votes % Seats +/− Government 1995 665,986 35.2 (#1) 1999 560,867 29.4 (#1) 5 2004 727,781 36.9 (#1) 9 2009 657,803 32.8 (#1) 5 2014 626,473 30.9 (#1) 1 2019 532,422 26.2 (#1) 7 2024 480,003 23.2 (#2) 4
German-speaking Community Parliament Election Votes % Seats +/− Government 1990 6,407 16.3 0 1995 5,958 16.1 0 1999 5,519 15.0 0 2004 6,903 19.0 1 2009 7,231 19.3 0 2014 6,047 16.1 1 2019 5,820 14.8 0 2024 5,473 13.7 1
European Parliament Election List leader Votes % Seats +/− EP Group Overall 1979 Anne-Marie Lizin 575,824 27.43 (#1) 10.58 New SOC 1984 Ernest Glinne 762,293 34.04 (#1) 13.32 1 1989 Ernest Glinne 854,207 38.13 (#1) 14.48 0 1994 José Happart Unclear 680,142 4,820 30.44 (#1) 12.57 (#5) 11.48 2 PES 1999 Philippe Busquin Charles Servaty 596,567 4,215 25.78 (#2) 11.42 (#4) 9.59 0 2004 Elio Di Rupo Werner Baumgarten 878,577 5,527 36.09 (#1) 14.94 (#3) 13.54 1 2009 Jean-Claude Marcourt Resi Stoffels 714,947 5,658 29.10 (#1) 14.63 (#4) 10.88 1 S&D 2014 Marie Arena Antonios Antoniadis 714,645 5,835 29.29 (#1) 15.12 (#4) 10.68 0 2019 Paul Magnette Matthias Zimmermann 651,157 4,655 26.69 (#1) 11.42 (#4) 9.74 1 2024 Elio Di Rupo Charles Servaty 529,697 5,131 20.52 (#1) 11.82 (#5) 7.50 0
Notable figures
André Cools André Flahaut Elio Di Rupo Guy Spitaels Jean-Claude Marcourt Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe Laurette Onkelinx Paul Magnette Philippe Busquin Philippe Moureaux Rudy Demotte
See also Charter of Quaregnon
References
External links
Official website of German-speaking section