People's Party (Belgium)

The People's Party (French: Parti populaire, Dutch: Volkspartij), abbreviated to PP, was a political party in Belgium. Primarily a French-speaking party, it considered itself to be to the right of the Reformist Movement, the main centre-right party in Francophone Belgium. It was often considered as a right-wing populist[6] party.

People's Party

LeaderMischaël Modrikamen
Founded26 November 2009 (2009-11-26)
Dissolved18 June 2019 (2019-06-18)[1]
HeadquartersAvenue Molière 144
1050 Brussels
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing to far-right[5]
European affiliationAlliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (2014–2016)
International affiliationThe Movement
European Parliament groupNo MEPs
Colours         Purple, Orange
Chamber of Representatives
0 / 150
Senate
0 / 60
Walloon Parliament
0 / 75
European Parliament
0 / 21

The PP was founded on 26 November 2009 by Rudy Aernoudt and Mischaël Modrikamen, inspired in part by the examples of the People's Party in Spain and the Union for a Popular Movement in France.[7] The PP considers itself to be economically liberal in the European sense of the term. The party's manifesto emphasizes efficiency and disinterestedness in governance, plain speaking, and individual autonomy.[8] The PP aimed to reform the justice system and to strengthen the Belgian federal government relative to the regions and communities.

In its first electoral test, the 2010 Belgian general election, the PP won 84,005 votes (1.29% of the national total) and returned Laurent Louis as its first Member of Parliament for Walloon Brabant. The PP list for the Senate, headed by Rudy Aernoudt, took 98,858 votes (1.53% nationally) but failed to return a Senator.

Aernoudt and Modrikamen had a public falling-out in August 2010. Laurent Louis had publicly supported the policy of Nicolas Sarkozy in deporting Roma people from France. These comments provoked the indignation of both Aernoudt and the leaders of the PP's youth wing,[9] but Modrikamen did not join in their call for Louis to apologize, and Aernoudt was expelled from the party. Aernoudt disputed the legality of his expulsion, and also criticized Modrikamen's call for a "Plan B" (an independent Wallonia-Brussels) as a betrayal of the party's federalist identity.[10] Aernoudt also publicly accused Modrikamen of financial misdeeds.[11] The rupture leaves the future of the party uncertain. The People's Party is supportive of Israel.

Mischael Modrikamen, president of the People's Party, has reiterated after the regional elections in 2012 the interest to offer a partnership with the Flemish party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), to transform Belgium into a confederal state in 2014.

In 2014 the PP won 1 seat in the chamber of representatives and 1 seat in the Walloon Parliament. The PP reached more than 10% in some cantons. However Mischaël Modrikamen did not get a seat in the chamber of representatives. The PP participated in the European elections for the first time but did not get a seat despite the score of Luc Trullemans.

The party was dissolved by unanimous vote of the party members present on the 18 June 2019 party congress.

Electoral results

Federal Parliament

Chamber of Representatives
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of language
group vote		 # of overall seats won # of language
group seats won		 +/- Notes
2010 84,005 1.3
1 / 150
1 / 62
 new in opposition
2014 102,599 1.51 (#13)
1 / 150
1 / 62
 0 in opposition

Senate
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of language
group vote		 # of overall seats won # of language
group seats won		 +/- Notes
2010 98,858 1.5
0 / 40
0 / 15
2014 N/A N/A N/A (#13)
0 / 60
0 / 15
 0

Regional parliaments

Walloon Parliament
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of language
group vote		 # of overall seats won +/- Notes
2014 98,840 4,89 (#6)
1 / 75
 new in opposition

Brussels Parliament
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of language
group vote		 # of overall seats won +/- Notes
2014 7,942 1,94 (#8)
0 / 89
 new

European Parliament
Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of language
group vote		 # of overall seats won +/- Notes
2014 145,538 2,18 5,98 (#5)
0 / 21
 new

Notable figures
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gollark: Technically, it has that 256-wide.

References
  1. https://www.lalibre.be/actu/politique-belge/modrikamen-l-a-annonce-le-pp-c-est-termine-5d0a384f9978e2779656502c
  2. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Belgium". Parties and Elections in Europe.
  3. Pauwels, Teun (2013). Belgium: Decline of National Populism?. Exposing the Demagogues: Right-wing and National Populist Parties in Europe. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, CES. p. 85.
  4. Alastair Macdonald (24 July 2018). "Belgian lawyer launches Trump-inspired anti-EU movement". Reuters.
  5. "Modrikamen (PP) a basculé à l'extrême droite". La Libre Belgique. February 10, 2016.
  6. Zulianello, Mattia (2019). "Varieties of Populist Parties and Party Systems in Europe: From State-of-the-Art to the Application of a Novel Classification Scheme to 66 Parties in 33 Countries". Government and Opposition: 4.
  7. RTBF (2009-06-11). M. Modrikamen veut lancer un "vrai parti de droite populaire" Archived 2009-06-14 at the Wayback Machine Accessed on 2010-06-17. (in French)
  8. Manifest van de Personenpartij / Manifeste du Parti Populaire Archived 2009-11-30 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch and French)
  9. "Roms : les jeunes PP se distancient des propos de Laurent Louis". Le Soir (in French). 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  10. "Aernoudt dénonce le " projet séparatiste " du PP". Le Soir (in French). 2010-08-24. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  11. "Le PP poursuit Aernoudt en justice pour faux et calomnie". Le Soir (in French). 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
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