Sociaal-Liberale Partij (; SLP; Dutch for Social Liberal Party) was a Belgian

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium ...

political party formed after dissolution of the moderate nationalist People's Union (''Volksunie'') party. Prior to 19 April 2008 it was known as Spirit, and intermediately as Flemish Progressives (VlaamsProgressieven). The party merged with Groen in the end of 2009, ceasing to exist.

History

The People's Union split up into two parties, the

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

Spirit and the centre-right New-Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which formed an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

with the

Christian Democratic and Flemish Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party ...

(CD&V) party. The formation of the alliances was seen as a way in which Spirit and N-VA could guarantee their influence and position in

and Belgian politics. This led the liberal wing to initially opt for an Alliance with Flemish Liberals and Democrats.

Abbreviation

Spirit was the abbreviation for *Sociaal (Social) *Progressief (Progressive) *Internationaal (International) *Regionalistisch (Regional) *Integraal-democratisch (Completely democratic) *Toekomstgericht (Future oriented)

2007 elections

In the 10 June 2007

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, the Social Liberal party was in an electoral alliance with Socialist Party Different (sp.a) and won 14 out of 88 Flemish seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 Flemish 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 e ...

. In the autumn of 2008, following a scandal causing its leader, Bettina Geysen to step down, the Social Liberal Party ended its cooperation with SP.A.

Geert Lambert Geert Lambert (born 28 February 1967) is a Belgian politician and lawyer. He was the president of Spirit, a Flemish political party, from 2004 until 2007, when he was succeeded by Bettina Geysen. In 2003 he became a member of the Chamber of Repre ...

was elected the new leader. Many prominent party members, including cofounder

Bert Anciaux Bert Jozef Herman Vic Anciaux (born 11 September 1959) is a Belgian politician and Vooruit faction leader in the Belgian Senate. He was one of the founders of Spirit (later known as the Flemish Progressives, then the Social Liberal Party, o ...

, left the party.

References

External links

* Defunct political parties in Belgium Flemish Movement Flemish political parties in Belgium Green liberalism Social liberal parties Political parties disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Belgium {{Belgium-stub

History

Abbreviation

2007 elections

See also

References

External links