VLOTT is a minor

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

right-wing liberal or fortuynist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. Its title, ''VLOTT'', is an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for "Flemish, Liberal, Independent, Tolerant, Transparent" (''Vlaams, Liberaal, Onafhankelijk, Tolerant, Transparant''). It was founded on 23 November 2005 by ex-

Open VLD french: Libéraux et démocrates flamands ouverts , abbreviation = Open Vld , logo = , leader1_title = President , leader1_name = Egbert Lachaert , foundation = 1992 (VLD)2007 (Open Vld) , predecessor = ...

member Hugo Coveliers. It participated in a list-cartel with the

Vlaams Belang , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = ...

in the October 2006 Antwerp municipal elections and in selected provincial, municipal and district elections elsewhere in Flanders. Despite the popularity of their founder in Antwerp (13 623 personal votes, 3rd most popular) the shared effort of the cartel-partners did only result in a small 0.5 percent win, with no extra seat in the city-council. In 2007, VLOTT did not participate in the general elections, but their candidates appeared as independents on the Vlaams Belang ballots. Only founder Hugo Coveliers was elected to the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parli ...

. After Coveliers withdrawal from active politics early 2012 Vlaams Belang stopped its cooperation with the party.Hugo Coveliers stopt met de actieve politiek
De Standaard (20 January 2012)Hugo Coveliers is niet langer voorzitter van Vlott
De Standaard (3 December 2010)

Platform

The VLOTT party advocates the independence of

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

and individual

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

are central tenets of its principles. The party opposes multi-culturalism. Many of the party's policies were originally influenced by that of Dutch politician

Pim Fortuyn Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) ...

and his

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popu ...

party.

References

External links

* *
Official VLOTT Antwerp Campaign website
*
Cartel Campaign website for the joint VLOTT-Vlaams Belang list for the Antwerp elections
Flemish political parties in Belgium Right-wing populism in Belgium National liberal parties Nationalist parties in Belgium {{Belgium-party-stub