The Socialist Party ( , PS) is a

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

political party in Belgium. As of the 2024 elections, it is the fourth largest party in the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (; ; ) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament. Members and elections Article 62 o ...

and the second largest Francophone party. The party is led by Paul Magnette. The party supplies the Minister-president of the

French Community The French Community () was the constitutional organization set up in October 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which had reorganized the colonial em ...

( Rudy Demotte), and the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

( 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 The government of the Brussels-Capital Region ( ; ) is the political administration of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) An election is held every five ye ...

, 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 Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and financial fraud ( Cools assassination,

Agusta scandal The Agusta scandal (, ), alternatively known as the Agusta–Dassault Case, was a major political scandal which occurred in Belgium during the 1990s, based on allegations that two multinational companies had used bribery to secure large Militar ...

, Dassault Affair, Carolorégienne affair, ICDI affair). The Carolorégienne affair caused Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down as Minister-President of the Walloon region.

Electoral results

The PS performed well in the 2003 general election but were overtaken as the largest Francophone party by the

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

in the 2007 general election. In the 10 June 2007

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, the party won 20 out of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The PS was a member of the

Leterme I Government The Leterme I Government was the federal government of Belgium from 20 March 2008 to 22 December 2008. It took office when the Flemish Christian democrat Yves Leterme ( CD&V) was sworn in as Prime Minister. It followed the Belgian general elec ...

Van Rompuy I Government The Van Rompuy Government was the federal government of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until 15 November 2009. Herman Van Rompuy was nominated as the first President of the European Council and resigned shortly after as Premier. It took office when ...

Leterme II Government The Leterme II Government was the Belgian federal government, federal government of Belgium from 25 November 2009 to 26 April 2010, and the caretaker government until 6 December 2011. It took office when the Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leter ...

and currently the Di Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving as

Prime Minister of Belgium The prime minister of Belgium (; ; ) or the premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government of Belgium, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. The first head of government in Belgian history was Henri van der Noot in 179 ...

Timeline

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:16 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:0 PlotData= bar:% color:red width:22 mark:(line,white) align:center bar:1978 from:start till:13.1 text:" 13.1" bar:1981 from:start till:12.7 text:" 12.7" bar:1985 from:start till:13.8 text:" 13.8" bar:1987 from:start till:15.6 text:" 15.6" bar:1991 from:start till:13.5 text:" 13.5" bar:1995 from:start till:11.9 text:" 11.9" bar:1999 from:start till:10.2 text:" 10.2" bar:2003 from:start till:13.0 text:" 13.0" bar:2007 from:start till:10.86 text:" 10.86" bar:2010 from:start till:13.70 text:" 13.70" bar:2014 from:start till:11.67 text:" 11.67" bar:2019 from:start till:9.46 text:" 9.46"

Ideology

The PS is a

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

party. Its ideology and image are a mix of

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

and modern electoral marketing. In its political program, the party identifies as progressive and eco-socialist.

Notable figures

Chairmen

* André Cools, 1978–1981 (previously leader of the Walloon branch of the BSP/PSB) * Guy Spitaels, 1981–1992 * Philippe Busquin, 1992–1999 *

Elio Di Rupo Elio Di Rupo (; born 18 July 1951) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 2011 to 2014, heading the Di Rupo Government, and as minister-president of Wallonia for three non-consecutive terms between 1999 and 20 ...

, 1999–2011 * Thierry Giet, 2011–2013 (ad interim) * Paul Magnette, 2013–2014 (ad interim) *

, 2014–2019 * Paul Magnette, 2019–

Other

* Rudy Demotte * André Flahaut * Jean-Claude Marcourt * Philippe Moureaux *

Laurette Onkelinx Laurette A. J. Onkelinx (born 2 October 1958) is a Belgian politician from the Francophone Socialist Party. She was the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health in the Belgian federal government, i.e., the Di Rupo ...

* Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe

Election results

Chamber of Representatives

Senate

Regional

Brussels Parliament

Walloon Parliament

German-speaking Community Parliament

European Parliament

References

External links

*
Official website of German-speaking section
{{Party of European Socialists Francophone political parties in Belgium Social democratic parties Full member parties of the Socialist International Party of European Socialists member parties Regionalism (politics) Political parties established in 1978 1978 establishments in Belgium Socialist parties in Belgium Progressive Alliance Centre-left parties in Europe