People's Party (Belgium)

The People's Party ( , PP; ), was a political party in Belgium.  Primarily a French-speaking party, it considered itself to be to the right of the Reformist Movement, the main centre-right party in Francophone Belgium. It was often considered as a right-wing populist party. From 2016 onwards, it was considered as far-right by the .

The PP was founded on 26 November 2009 by Rudy Aernoudt and Mischaël Modrikamen, inspired in part by the examples of the People's Party in Spain and the Union for a Popular Movement in France.RTBF (2009-06-11). M. Modrikamen veut lancer un "vrai parti de droite populaire"  Accessed on 2010-06-17.  The PP considers itself to be economically liberal in the European sense of the term. The party's manifesto emphasizes efficiency and disinterestedness in governance, plain speaking, and individual autonomy.Manifest van de Personenpartij / Manifeste du Parti Populaire   The PP aimed to reform the justice system and to strengthen the Belgian federal government relative to the regions and communities.

In its first electoral test, the 2010 Belgian general election, the PP won 84,005 votes (1.29% of the national total) and returned Laurent Louis as its first Member of Parliament for Walloon Brabant. The PP list for the Senate, headed by Rudy Aernoudt, took 98,858 votes (1.53% nationally) but failed to return a Senator. The party also discussed a joint venture with the Flemish Libertair, Direct, Democratisch party, but ultimately the two parties chose not to collaborate. 

Aernoudt and Modrikamen had a public falling-out in August 2010. Laurent Louis had publicly supported the policy of Nicolas Sarkozy in deporting Roma people from France. These comments provoked the indignation of both Aernoudt and the leaders of the PP's youth wing, but Modrikamen did not join in their call for Louis to apologize, and Aernoudt was expelled from the party. Aernoudt disputed the legality of his expulsion, and also criticized Modrikamen's call for a "Plan B" (an independent Wallonia-Brussels) as a betrayal of the party's federalist identity. Aernoudt also publicly accused Modrikamen of financial misdeeds. The rupture leaves the future of the party uncertain. The People's Party is supportive of Israel.

Mischael Modrikamen, president of the People's Party, has reiterated after the regional elections in 2012 the interest to offer a partnership with the Flemish party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), to transform Belgium into a confederal state in 2014.

In 2014 the PP won 1 seat in the chamber of representatives and 1 seat in the  Walloon Parliament. The PP reached more than 10% in some cantons. However Mischaël Modrikamen did not get a seat in the chamber of representatives. The PP participated in the European elections for the first time but did not get a seat despite the score of Luc Trullemans.

The party was dissolved by unanimous vote of the party members present on the 18 June 2019 party congress.

Following the dissolution of the part, some former PP members announced their invention to create a new party called La Droite (The Right) and reportedly reached out to Alain Destexhe and his Listes Destexhe party for collaboration. In 2021, former PP members helped to establish and merged remaining PP structures into the new  Chez Nous (With Us) party alongside former Listes Destexhe and Reformist Movement members.

Electoral results

Federal Parliament

Chamber of Representatives
 Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of languagegroup vote # of overall seats won # of languagegroup seats won +/- Notes 2010 84,005	 	 1.3    New 2014 102,599 1.51 (#13)    0 2019 75,096 1.11 (#13)    1

Senate
 Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of languagegroup vote # of overall seats won # of languagegroup seats won +/- Notes 2010 98,858	 	 1.5    2014 N/A	 N/A N/A (#13)    0 2019 N/A	 N/A N/A (#13)    0

Regional parliaments

Walloon Parliament
 Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of languagegroup vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes 2014 98,840 4.89 (#6)  New  2019 74,622	 3.67 (#7)   1 

Brussels Parliament
 Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of languagegroup vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes 2014 7,942 1.94 (#8)  New  2019 6,605 1.70 (#8)   0 

European Parliament
 Election year # of overall votes % of overall vote % of languagegroup vote # of overall seats won +/- Notes 2014 145,538 2.18 5.98 (#5)  New  2019 113,793 1.69 4.66 (#7)   0 
Notable figures

Mischaël Modrikamen
Michel Renquin

References

External links
  Official website

Category:Francophone political parties in Belgium
Category:Eurosceptic parties in Belgium
Category:Political parties established in 2009
Category:Political parties disestablished in 2019
Category:2009 establishments in Belgium
Category:Right-wing populist parties
Category:2019 disestablishments in Belgium
Category:Defunct political parties in Belgium
Category:Right-wing parties in Europe
Category:Nationalist parties in Belgium