at the time of the german invasion in may 1940, belgium had several political parties that were broadly sympathetic to the authoritarian and anti-democratic ideals represented by nazi germany. in wallonia and brussels, the largest of these groups was the rexist party, led by léon degrelle. this had originated as a faction of the mainstream catholic block, but split in 1935 to form an independent populist party. ideologically, rex supported belgian nationalism, but its support for corporatism and anti-communism made it sympathetic towards aspects of nazi ideology. it achieved some early success, peaking at the elections of 1936 in which it received 11.5 percent of the national vote, but experienced a decline in the following years before the german invasion and remained marginal.