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| Abbreviation | PS |
| President | Paul Magnette |
| Founded | 1978; 47 years ago (1978) |
| Preceded by | Belgian Socialist Party |
| Headquarters | National Secretariat Bd de l'Empereur/Keizerslaan 13, Brussels |
| Think tank | Institut Emile Vandervelde[1] |
| Youth wing | Movement of Young Socialists |
| Membership(2021) | 32,000[2] |
| Ideology | Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Regional affiliation | Socialists, Greens and Democrats |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance Socialist International |
| Flemish counterpart | Vooruit |
| Colours | Red |
| Chamber of Representatives (French-speaking seats) | 16 / 61 |
| Senate (French-speaking seats) | 7 / 24 |
| Walloon Parliament | 19 / 75 |
| Parliament of the French Community | 28 / 94 |
| Brussels Parliament (French-speaking seats) | 16 / 72 |
| European Parliament (French-speaking seats) | 2 / 8 |
| Benelux Parliament | 3 / 21 |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| ps.be | |
TheSocialist Party[3][4][5] (French:Parti socialiste[paʁtisɔsjalist],PS) is asocial democratic[11]French-speakingpolitical party in Belgium. As of the2024 elections, it is the fourth largest party in theBelgian Chamber of Representatives and the second largest Francophone party. The party is led byPaul Magnette. The party supplies theMinister-president of theFrench Community (Rudy Demotte), and theBrussels-Capital Region (Rudi Vervoort). In the German-speaking community, the party is known as theSozialistische 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: theGovernment of the French Community, theWalloon Government, theGovernment of the Brussels-Capital Region, as well as theCOCOF, a local subsidiary in Brussels of the French Community Government, and theGovernment 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 concerningbribery and financial fraud (Cools assassination,Agusta scandal, Dassault Affair,Carolorégienne affair,ICDI affair). The Carolorégienne affair causedJean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe to step down asMinister-President of the Walloon region.
The PS is acentre-left party.[12] Its ideology and image are a mix ofsocial democracy and modern electoral marketing. In its political program, the party identifies asprogressive andeco-socialist.[13]
During the2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen,KU Leuven,VUB,UCLouvain andULB)[14][15] — studied the electoral programmes of Belgium's thirteen main political parties. This study classified the parties on two "left-right" axes, from "-5" (extreme left) to "5" (extreme right): a "classic" socio-economic axis, which refers to state intervention in the economic process and the degree to which the state should ensure social equality, and a socio-cultural axis, which refers to a divide articulated around an identity-based opposition on themes such as immigration, Europe, crime, the environment, emancipation, etc.[15]
The PS then presented the most left-wing programme, along with thePTB, on the socio-economic level (-4.43), and also left-wing on the socio-cultural level (-3.41).[15][16]
The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. The PS's positioning shifted towards the centre, while remaining on the left, on the socio-economic axis (-3.57) and remained unchanged on the socio-cultural axis (-3.46).[17]
The PS performed well in the2003 general election but were overtaken as the largest Francophone party by theReformist Movement in the2007 general election.
In the 10 June 2007general elections, the party won 20 out of 150 seats in theChamber of Representatives and 4 out of 40 seats in theSenate. The PS was a member of theLeterme I Government,Van Rompuy I Government,Leterme II Government and currently theDi Rupo I Government of 6 December 2011, with former PS leader Elio Di Rupo serving asPrime Minister of Belgium.
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 689,876 | 12.5 | 31 / 212 | Coalition | |
| 1981 | 733,137 | 12.2 | 35 / 212 |  4 | Opposition |
| 1985 | 834,488 | 13.8 | 35 / 212 |  0 | Opposition |
| 1987 | 961,361 | 15.6 | 40 / 212 | 5 | Coalition |
| 1991 | 831,199 | 13.5 | 35 / 212 |  5 | Coalition |
| 1995 | 720,819 | 11.9 | 21 / 150 | 14 | Coalition |
| 1999 | 631,653 | 10.2 | 19 / 150 | 2 | Coalition |
| 2003 | 855,992 | 13.0 | 25 / 150 | 6 | Coalition |
| 2007 | 724,787 | 10.9 | 20 / 150 | 5 | Coalition |
| 2010 | 894,543 | 13.7 | 26 / 150 | 6 | Coalition |
| 2014 | 787,165 | 11.7 | 23 / 150 | 3 | Opposition |
| 2019 | 641,623 | 9.5 | 20 / 150 | 3 | External support(2020) |
| Coalition(2020–2025) | |||||
| 2024 | 561,602 | 8.0 | 16 / 150 | 4 | Opposition |
Results for theChamber of Representatives, in percentages for the Kingdom of Belgium.
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 685,307 | 12.5 | 17 / 106 | |
| 1981 | 755,512 | 12.7 | 18 / 106 | 1 |
| 1985 | 832,792 | 13.9 | 18 / 106 | 0 |
| 1987 | 958,686 | 15.7 | 20 / 106 | 2 |
| 1991 | 814,136 | 13.3 | 18 / 106 | 2 |
| 1995 | 764,610 | 12.8 | 5 / 40 | 13 |
| 1999 | 597,890 | 9.7 | 4 / 40 | 1 |
| 2003 | 840,908 | 12.8 | 6 / 40 | 2 |
| 2007 | 678,812 | 10.2 | 4 / 40 | 2 |
| 2010 | 880,828 | 13.6 | 7 / 40 | 3 |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Government | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F.E.C. | Overall | |||||
| 1989 | 96,189 | 22.0 (#1) | 18 / 75 | Coalition | ||
| 1995 | 88,370 | 21.4 (#2) | 17 / 75 | 1 | Coalition | |
| 1999 | 68,307 | 18.6 (#3) | 16.0 (#3) | 13 / 75 | 4 | Coalition |
| 2004 | 130,462 | 33.4 (#1) | 28.7 (#1) | 26 / 89 | 13 | Coalition |
| 2009 | 107,303 | 26.2 (#2) | 23.3 (#2) | 21 / 89 | 5 | Coalition |
| 2014 | 108,755 | 26.6 (#1) | 23.5 (#1) | 21 / 89 | | Coalition |
| 2019 | 85,530 | 22.0 (#1) | 18.7 (#1) | 17 / 89 | 4 | Coalition |
| 2024 | 85,929 | 22.1 (#2) | 16 / 89 | 1 | TBD | |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 665,986 | 35.2 (#1) | 30 / 75 | Coalition | |
| 1999 | 560,867 | 29.4 (#1) | 25 / 75 | 5 | Coalition |
| 2004 | 727,781 | 36.9 (#1) | 34 / 75 | 9 | Coalition |
| 2009 | 657,803 | 32.8 (#1) | 29 / 75 | 5 | Coalition |
| 2014 | 626,473 | 30.9 (#1) | 30 / 75 | 1 | Coalition(2014–2017) |
| Opposition(2017–2019) | |||||
| 2019 | 532,422 | 26.2 (#1) | 23 / 75 | 7 | Coalition |
| 2024 | 480,003 | 23.2 (#2) | 19 / 75 | 4 | Opposition |
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 6,407 | 16.3 | 4 / 25 | 0 | Opposition |
| 1995 | 5,958 | 16.1 | 4 / 25 | 0 | Coalition |
| 1999 | 5,519 | 15.0 | 4 / 25 | 0 | Coalition |
| 2004 | 6,903 | 19.0 | 5 / 25 | 1 | Coalition |
| 2009 | 7,231 | 19.3 | 5 / 25 | 0 | Coalition |
| 2014 | 6,047 | 16.1 | 4 / 25 | 1 | Coalition |
| 2019 | 5,820 | 14.8 | 4 / 25 | 0 | Coalition |
| 2024 | 5,473 | 13.7 | 3 / 25 | 1 | Opposition |
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| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/− | EP Group | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F.E.C. | G.E.C. | F.E.C. | G.E.C. | Overall | |||||
| 1979 | Anne-Marie Lizin(F.E.C.) | 575,824 | — | 27.43 (#1) | — | 10.58 | 4 / 24 | New | SOC |
| 1984 | Ernest Glinne(F.E.C.) | 762,293 | — | 34.04 (#1) | — | 13.32 | 5 / 24 | 1 | |
| 1989 | Ernest Glinne(F.E.C.) | 854,207 | — | 38.13 (#1) | — | 14.48 | 5 / 24 | 0 | |
| 1994 | José Happart(F.E.C.) Unclear(G.E.C.) | 680,142 | 4,820 | 30.44 (#1) | 12.57 (#5) | 11.48 | 3 / 25 | 2 | PES |
| 1999 | Philippe Busquin(F.E.C.) Charles Servaty(G.E.C.) | 596,567 | 4,215 | 25.78 (#2) | 11.42 (#4) | 9.59 | 3 / 25 | 0 | |
| 2004 | Elio Di Rupo(F.E.C.) Werner Baumgarten(G.E.C.) | 878,577 | 5,527 | 36.09 (#1) | 14.94 (#3) | 13.54 | 4 / 24 | 1 | |
| 2009 | Jean-Claude Marcourt(F.E.C.) Resi Stoffels(G.E.C.) | 714,947 | 5,658 | 29.10 (#1) | 14.63 (#4) | 10.88 | 3 / 22 | 1 | S&D |
| 2014 | Marie Arena(F.E.C.) Antonios Antoniadis(G.E.C.) | 714,645 | 5,835 | 29.29 (#1) | 15.12 (#4) | 10.68 | 3 / 21 | 0 | |
| 2019 | Paul Magnette(F.E.C.) Matthias Zimmermann(G.E.C.) | 651,157 | 4,655 | 26.69 (#1) | 11.42 (#4) | 9.74 | 2 / 21 | 1 | |
| 2024 | Elio Di Rupo(F.E.C.) Charles Servaty(G.E.C.) | 529,697 | 5,131 | 20.52 (#1) | 11.82 (#5) | 7.50 | 2 / 22 | 0 | |
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