Progressive Democratic Party (Hennehouwe)
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Progressive Democratic Party Vooruitstrevende Democratische Partij Parti progressiste-démocratique | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | VDP |
| Leader | Eva Kaestel |
| Chairman | Johan Wijers |
| Deputy Leader | Mark Sorgdrager |
| Founder | Dries Haverstrenk Marianne Rochette |
| Founded | 27 November 1989 |
| Merger of | Liberal Democratic Party Radical Centre |
| Headquarters | Plein van de Republiek, s'Holle |
| Newspaper | De progressieve/Le progressif |
| Think tank | Centre for Progressive Politics |
| Student wing | Progressive Students |
| Youth wing | Young Progressives |
| Ideology | Liberalism Social Liberalism Progressivism Pro-Eucleanism |
| Political position | Centre |
| Euclean affiliation | Euclean Liberal Party |
| Colors | Blue |
| Chamber of Deputies | 40 / 180
|
| Senate | 16 / 60
|
| Regional legislatures | 119 / 633
|
| Euclean Parliament | 6 / 26
|
| Website | |
| vdp.he | |
The Progressive Democratic Party (Hennish: Vooruitstrevende Democratische Partij; Gaullican: Parti progressiste-démocratique; VDP) is a social liberal and progressive political party in Hennehouwe. It is currently the second largest party overall in the General Assembly.
The VDP was formed from an amalgamation of the two main centrist parties in Hennehouwe, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Radical Centre, in 1989. The merger followed poor results for both parties throughout the late 1970s and 1980s as the combined liberal vote share continued to decrease. For most of its history, it has been the third party of Hennish politics behind the Socialist Labour Party and the National People's Party, and has formed part of governments led by both of those parties. Under the leadership of Berend Golstein, it entered government for the first time in 1998 via a centre-right coalition led by Hubert Jacobsen of the NVP. The government was reelected in 2002, and subsequently found itself dealing with the economic crisis of 2005. The party was besieged by splits and in-fighting over its part in the handling of the crisis, leading to an exodus on both sides: the right-wing, libertarian faction split to form part of the new LIVE – The Liberal Union; whilst those on the progressive end joined the SAP. The VDP were decimated in the 2006 federal election, winning just 7% of the vote.
Having spent the remainder of the 2000s in the wilderness, it slowly regained support throughout the early 2010s, becoming a powerful player in a number of regional legislatures. Following the 2014 federal election, it entered a confidence and supply agreement with the NVP government of Michiel Hagan, which it collapsed in 2017 in lieu of a government leaking scandal. Under the leadership of new leader Eva Kaestel, the VDP had its best ever federal election result in 2017, finishing in second place on 40 seats and 19.0% of the vote.
The VDP is currently the junior partner in a grand coalition with the SAP at the federal level, and forms part of the regional administration in eight regions: Flamia, Geeland, Grotevlakte, Molenburg, Oudkessel-Witburg, Reekland, s'Holle and Upper Stegeren. It also holds the governorships in Molenburg, Oudkessel-Witburg and Reekland. It has six seats in the Euclean Parliament, in which it forms part of the Euclean Liberal Party grouping.