Vivant

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Update Template:Infobox political party Vivant is a small social-liberal political party in Belgium<ref name="Nordsieck"/> founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). Both parties are founded on the principle of individualism and can be called liberal. In 2007, the party announced it would likely merge with the VLD.

Vivant is economically interventionist,<ref name="yannick">Template:Cite book</ref> advocating a basic income guarantee for all citizens. Vivant considers the basic income as an inalienable part of the legal minimum wage (approximately half of it for full-time employment). In order to tax goods more evenly, wherever they are manufactured in order to respond to automatisation, globalization and an ageing population, Vivant proposes to shift taxes from labour to final consumption. (All taxes in the chain of production are an inclusive part of the price paid by the consumers and could be considered as a consumption tax, each tax in each stage with its specific side effects.)

Vivant also proposes a flat tax on income in two steps, 0% on to 1350 Euro and 50% from there. The VLD doesn't support all of these measures. Vivant also has direct democracy as one of its key points. The main goal of the party and its universal income proposal, is a creation of an extensive welfare system. The party seeks a "more effective struggle against poverty and exclusion, the end of stigmatizing controls on beneficiaries, and an effective way of suppressing unemployment traps."<ref name="yannick"/>

In the regional elections of 2004, partner VLD lost heavily, dragging Vivant with it to third place among Flemish political parties. Although interest in Vivant increased during the elections, the party remained a marginal force in Belgian politics. Vivant is particularly strong in the German-speaking community of Belgium, where it won 7.3% and two representatives in the Parliament of the German community.

While vivant means "alive" or "lively" in French, as an acronym "VIVANT" stands for Voor Individuele Vrijheid en Arbeid in een Nieuwe Toekomst, ("for individual freedom and labour in a new future") in Dutch.

Elections

Template:Unsourced Vivant first took part in the federal elections for the Belgian Senate and Chamber of Representatives in 1999, but obtained no seats. The 2003 elections were no different. In 2004 there were elections of the European Parliament and the Belgian regional parliaments, where Vivant took part in a list-cartel with the VLD, but none of Vivant's candidates were elected. In 2006, Nele Lijnen became a co-opted member of the Senate.

Election results

Parliament of the German-speaking Community

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/−	Government
1999	1,228	3.33	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:No
2004	2,665	7.34	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 2	Template:No
2009	2,684	7.16	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2014	3,994	10.62	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2019	5,807	14.81	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1	Template:No
2024	5,700	14.23	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1	Template:No

Flemish Parliament

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/−	Government
1995Template:Efn	33,701	0.89	Template:Composition bar	New	Template:No
1999	77,864	2.01	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	Template:No
2004Template:Efn	804,578	19.79	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 25	Template:Yes

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%					Seats	+/−	EP Group
			Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Overall
1999	Unclear	{{#expr: 1,198 + 55,133 + 67,107 }}	3.25 (#6)	2.38 (#6)	1.73 (#7)	{{#expr: floor ((1198 + 55133 + 67107) / 6186242*10000)/100 }}	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0	−
2004	Did not contest						Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2009	Josef Meyer	2,417	6.25 (#6)	Did not contest		0.04	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2014	Andreas Meyer	3,319	8.60 (#6)	Did not contest		0.05	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2019	Alain Mertes	4,550	11.16 (#6)	Did not contest		0.07	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2024		5,281	12.16 (#4)	Did not contest		0.07	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0

See also

• List of liberal parties
• Liberalism in Belgium

Notes

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External links

• Vivant official site
• http://www.vivanteurope.org/doc/THEME/th29_2_en.pdf