VLOTT is a minor Belgian right-wing liberal and Fortuynist

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

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

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for "Flemish, Liberal, Independent, Tolerant, Transparent" (''Vlaams, Liberaal, Onafhankelijk, Tolerant, Transparant''). It was founded on 23 November 2005 by ex- Open VLD member Hugo Coveliers. It participated in a list-cartel with the

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

in the October 2006

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

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 ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...

. 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 ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-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 culture, la ...

Democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

and individual

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

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) in ...

and his Pim Fortuyn List 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