DéFI is a regionalist and social-liberal political party in Belgium mainly known for defending French-speakers' interests in and near the Brussels Capital Region. Founded in 1964, the party is led by , a former member of the Chamber of Representatives. The party adopted its current name, DéFI, in 2015.

History The party was founded as the Democratic Front of Francophones (Front Démocratique des Francophones, FDF) on 11 May 1964 as a response to the language laws of 1962. The party had instant success in Brussels: it first contested parliamentary elections one year later, where it won one senator and 3 seats in the Chamber of Representatives for the constituency of Brussels. Its number of seats increased further in the subsequent parliamentary elections. The party also dominated Brussels' municipal politics until 1982. Antoinette Spaak became the first woman to lead a Belgian political party when she was elected to lead the FDF in 1977.

Initially the party cooperated with the Walloon Rally. From 1977 until 1980, the FDF participated in the federal governments led by Leo Tindemans and subsequently Wilfried Martens. From 1992, the FDF regularly competed in electoral alliance with the larger Liberal Reformist Party (PRL). In 2002 the PRL, the FDF, the MCC and the PFF formed the Reformist Movement (MR), a closer alliance of Francophone liberal parties.

In January 2010 the party name was amended to Francophone Democratic Federalists (Fédéralistes Démocrates Francophones), maintaining its original acronym. In September 2011, the FDF decided to leave the alliance over disagreements with MR president Charles Michel on the agreement concerning the splitting of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district during the 2010–2011 Belgian government formation.

The party adopted its current name, DéFI, in November 2015.

Ideology and policies The party advocates the extension of the bilingual status of Brussels to some municipalities in the Brussels Periphery (in Flemish Brabant, Flemish Region), where a majority of the population has become French-speaking in recent years, but whose official language remains Dutch. The party advocates for the right to use French rather than Dutch when dealing with local authorities in Flanders. This demand is rejected by Flemish parties, who say that French-speaking residents of the Flemish Region should learn Dutch and argue that the Francization of Brussels should not be allowed to expand into Flanders.

Electoral positioning During the 2019 election campaign, the RePresent research centre — composed of political scientists from five universities (UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB, UCLouvain and ULB) — 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.

DéFI then presented a centrist programme (−0.47) on the socio-economic level, and left-wing (−2.46) on the socio-cultural level.

The RePresent centre repeated the exercise during the 2024 election campaign for the twelve main parties. DéFI's positioning shifted to the centre-left on the socio-economic axis (−1.67) and slightly more towards the centre, but still on the left, on the socio-cultural axis (−2.12).

Representation Notable elected members include: Véronique Caprasse, member of the Chamber of Representatives for Brussels and former mayor of Kraainem (2013–2015) Bernard Clerfayt, mayor of Schaerbeek since 2000 and member of the Brussels Parliament , Minister in the Vervoort II Brussels Government (2014–2019) and mayor of Auderghem Cécile Jodogne, Secretary of State in the Vervoort II Brussels Government (2014–2019) Olivier Maingain, former party leader, member of the Chamber of Representatives for Brussels since 1991 and mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert since 2006

Election results Chamber of Representatives Election Leader Votes % Seats +/− Government 1965 Paul Brien 68,966 1.33 New 1968Albert Peeters 154,023 2.97 3 1971 286,639 5.43 2 1974 André Lagasse 301,303 5.73 4 1977Léon Defosset263,1044.72 1 1978Antoinette Spaak259,0194.68 0 1981 253,720 4.21 5 1985Georges Clerfayt 72,361 1.19 3 1987 71,338 1.16 0 1991 90,813 1.47 0 1995Olivier Maingain 623,250 10.26 1 1999 630,219 10.14 0 2003Merged into Reformist Movement 2007 2010 2014Olivier Maingain 121,384 1.80 2 2019 150,394 2.22 0 2024 François De Smet 84,024 1.20 2

European Parliament Election List leader Votes % Seats +/− EP Group Overall 1979 Antoinette Spaak 414,603 19.75 (#3) 7.62 New NI 1984 Unclear 142,879 6.38 (#5) 2.50 2 − 1989 François Roelants du Vivier 85,867 3.83 (#5) 1.46 0 1994 Jean Gol 541,724 24.25 (#2) 9.08 1 ELDR 1999 Daniel Ducarme 624,445 26.99 (#1) 10.03 0 2004 Merged into Reformist Movement 2009 2014 Cristina Coteanu 82,540 3.38 (#6) 1.23 0 − 2019 Benoit Cassart 144,555 5.92 (#6) 2.15 0 2024 Fabrice Van Dorpe 75,243 2.91 (#6) 1.05 0

See also Belgian French French Community of Belgium Languages of Belgium

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