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Vooruit (,
Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
for Forward) is a
Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
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 ...
political party in Belgium. It was formerly known as the (Flemish) Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'' , , SP.A) until 21 March 2021, when its current name was adopted. The party was founded following the linguistic split of the unitary
Belgian Socialist Party The Belgian Socialist Party (, , PSB; , , BSP) was a social-democratic political party which existed in Belgium from 1945 to 1978. During its time in office, a number of progressive social reforms were introduced. The BSP was founded by activists ...
in 1978, which also produced the Francophone
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
. The Belgian Socialist Party itself consisted of former members of the
Belgian Labour Party The Belgian Labour Party (, , BWP; , , POB) was the first major Socialism, socialist party in Belgium. Founded in 1885, the party achieved its first electoral breakthrough in the aftermath of World War I. It was officially disbanded after the Ger ...
. From December 2011 to September 2014, the party was part of the
Di Rupo Government The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats ( sp.a/ PS), Christian democrats ...
, along with its Francophone counterpart. In 2020, it re-entered federal government as part of the
De Croo Government The De Croo Government was the Federal Government of Belgium, led by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo from 1 October 2020 to 3 February 2025. It functioned in a caretaker capacity from the resignation of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on 10 Ju ...
. The party has been a part of the
Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...
several times.


History


1885–1940


1940–1978


Since 1978

The party was the big winner in the 2003 election, running on the
SP.A–Spirit The SP.a–SPIRIT was a Belgian electoral coalition between the Flemish parties Socialist Party Different Vooruit (, Dutch for Forward) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. It was formerly known as the (Flemish) Socialis ...
joint list (
cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...
) with the
social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...
party Spirit. Their share of the vote went up from 9% (of the total Belgian vote) to almost 15%, a second place in the number of votes. The main victim of this resurgence was the
Green! Groen (; ), founded as Agalev, is a green Flemish political party in Belgium. The main pillars of the party are social justice, human rights, and ecologism. Its French-speaking equivalent is Ecolo; the two parties maintain close relations with ...
party (formerly known as ''Agalev''). SP.A was part of the "
purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...
" federal coalitions of Prime Minister
Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...
from 12 July 1999 until 10 June 2007, which contained both the Flemish and Francophone liberal and social-democratic parties. In 2004, the SP.A along with its partner Spirit lost the elections for the
Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...
. Although they won more seats in comparison to the Flemish elections of 1999, their percentage of the vote compared to the successful 2003 federal elections was considerably down. The reputation of then party leader
Steve Stevaert Steve Stevaert (; born Robert Stevaert ; 12 April 1954 – 2 April 2015) was a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the Socialistische Partij - Anders, SP.A. Biography Stevaert was born on 12 April 1954, in Rijkhoven. After his st ...
took a beating too. The party was briefly led by
Caroline Gennez Caroline Gennez (; born 21 August 1975) is a Belgian socialist politician who served as the Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy in the De Croo Government from December 2022 until October 2024. She is a former chairwoman of the ...
, after former president
Steve Stevaert Steve Stevaert (; born Robert Stevaert ; 12 April 1954 – 2 April 2015) was a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the Socialistische Partij - Anders, SP.A. Biography Stevaert was born on 12 April 1954, in Rijkhoven. After his st ...
left to become governor of
Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
.
Johan Vande Lanotte Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte (born 6 July 1955) is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005. He handed down his leadership positions after the SP.A lost in the 2007 general elec ...
, who served as Minister of the Budget in the federal Government, was elected President and resigned as minister to become President on 17 October 2005. He resigned 11 June 2007, after SP.A–Spirit lost the elections for the federal parliament of 10 June 2007. In these federal elections, the cartel won 14 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 ...
. Afterwards, Caroline Gennez was elected President by the party members. As of May 2009, SP.A was in opposition in federal politics. Unlike its Francophone counterpart, the
Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(PS), SP.A was not a participant in the
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 ...
. In January 2009, the party had apparently changed its name to Socialists and Progressive Differently (Dutch: ''Socialisten en Progressieven Anders''). This name change was retracted and the party baseline was changed from Social Progressive Alternative (Dutch: ''Sociaal Progressief Alternatief'') to Socialists and Progressive Differently (Dutch: ''Socialisten en Progressieven Anders''). In the 2010 federal election, SP.A won 13 seats with 9% of the overall vote. The party was a member of the
Di Rupo Government The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats ( sp.a/ PS), Christian democrats ...
formed on 6 December 2011, until the elections in 2014. In the elections for the Chamber of Representatives on 25 May 2014, SP.A scored again 9% and received 13 seats, in contrast to their francophone Socialist Party counterparts, who lost 3 seats and whose share of the vote decreased by 2%. In the
Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...
, SP.A have 18 representatives, deriving from around 14% of the vote—this is a small reduction on the 2009 parliament, where SP.A had 19 seats, deriving from 15% of the popular vote. From 2009–2014, SP.A participated in the
Flemish Government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...
, in an uneasy coalition with the CD & V and the N-VA. From 2014 onwards, SP.A formed part of the opposition in Flanders, as the regional government reflected the Flemish component of the federal administration, consisting of coalition of the Open-VLD, CD & V and the N-VA. In January 2018, the party advocated for a "new socialism" and a "new equality". In September 2020, party leader Conner Rousseau announced a renaming of the party to ''Vooruit'' ("Forward"). The new name was made official on 21 March 2021.


Political views

Vooruit 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 ...
Flemish
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 ...
party.
Equal opportunities Equal opportunity is a state of fairness in which individuals are treated similarly, unhampered by artificial barriers, prejudices, or preferences, except when particular distinctions can be explicitly justified. For example, the intent of equa ...
and
solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
are central to the party. The party strives to ensure that those who earn the most or own the greatest wealth also pay the highest taxes so that the government can meet the needs of people who are less fortunate. Vooruit focuses on protecting the
purchasing power Purchasing power refers to the amount of products and services available for purchase with a certain currency unit. For example, if you took one unit of cash to a store in the 1950s, you could buy more products than you could now, showing that th ...
of ordinary citizens. It opposes cuts in
social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
and advocates investment, especially in
education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
and
health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
.


Symbols

File:BSP flag.png, Flag of BSP (1973–1978) File:Socialistische Partij Belgie logo (1978-2001).png, Logo of Socialist Party (1978–2001) File:Socialistische Partij Anders logo (2001–2010).svg, Logo of SP.A (2001–2010) File:Socialistische Partij Anders logo.png, Logo of SP.A (2010–2018) File:Socialistische Partij Anders logo (2018–present).png, Logo of SP.A (2018–2021) File:Vooruit logo.svg, Logo of VOORUIT (2021–) File:Vooruit vlag.png, Flag of Vooruit (2021–)


Presidents


Members holding notable public offices


European politics


Federal politics


Regional politics


Provincial politics

° In Limburg, SP.A formed a cartel with
Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch people, Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.


Senate


Regional


Brussels Parliament


Flemish Parliament


European Parliament


Notes


References


Further reading

* Johan Vande Lanotte (2010), ''Vlugschrift – over welvaart en geluk'',
retrievable on the website sp.a-ledenbeheer
, 96 p., . * Patrick Vander Weyden, Koen Abts (2010), ''De basis spreekt'' — onderzoek naar de leden, mandatarissen en kiezers van sp.a (research on members sp.a by
Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...
), Acco (Leuven/Den Haag), 239 p., .


External links

* * (Dutch) {{Authority control Political parties established in 1978 1978 establishments in Belgium Flemish political parties in Belgium Party of European Socialists member parties Progressive Alliance Social democratic parties Socialist parties in Belgium Pro-European political parties in Belgium