2004 Flemish parliamentary election|
|
|
|
|
 |
|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|
| Flanders | Brussels | Total | +/- |
|---|
| Christian Democratic and Flemish-New Flemish Alliance | 1,060,580 | 26.09 | 34 | 1 | 35 | +5 |
| Flemish Block | 981,587 | 24.15 | 29 | 3 | 32 | +10 |
| Flemish Liberals and Democrats-Vivant | 804,578 | 19.79 | 24 | 1 | 25 | -2 |
| Socialist Party Differently-Spirit | 799,325 | 19.66 | 24 | 1 | 25 | +6 |
| Groen! | 308,898 | 7.60 | 6 | – | 6 | -6 |
| Union of Francophones | 43,391 | 1.07 | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Workers' Party of Belgium+ | 22,874 | 0.56 | – | – | – | – |
| Belgische Unie – Union Belge | 9,535 | 0.23 | – | – | – | – |
| National Front | 7,388 | 0.18 | – | – | – | – |
| Solide | 6,033 | 0.15 | – | – | – | – |
| Respect | 5,227 | 0.13 | – | – | – | – |
| MDP | 4,187 | 0.10 | – | – | – | – |
| PvdD | 2,640 | 0.06 | – | – | – | – |
| Left Socialist Party | 2,509 | 0.06 | – | – | – | – |
| STA OP | 1,821 | 0.04 | – | – | – | – |
| B.U.B. | 1,723 | 0.04 | – | – | – | – |
| Vrijheid, Intimiteit, Thuis, Arbeid en Liefde | 1,332 | 0.03 | – | – | – | – |
| MRV | 761 | 0.02 | – | – | – | – |
| VDB | 357 | 0.01 | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 4,064,746 | 100.00 | 118 | 6 | 124 | 13 |
|
| Valid votes | 4,064,746 | 94.87 | |
|---|
| Invalid/blank votes | 219,910 | 5.13 | |
|---|
| Total votes | 4,284,656 | 100.00 | |
|---|
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,568,250 | 93.79 | |
|---|
| Source: Belgian Elections |
In the Flemish Parliament election, the liberal-socialist government was put to the test. The far right Vlaams Blok became the second largest party in Flanders just after the alliance of conservatives Christian Democratic and Flemish-New Flemish Alliance (CD&V - N-VA). The green party Groen! managed to be elected and keeps half of their seats in the parliament. In contrast with the previous election, the People's Union (VU-ID) has split and the new parties, N-VA and Spirit, allied with CD&V and Different Socialist Party (SP.A) respectively.
Because of the cordon sanitaire of all the other parties against Vlaams Blok, a coalition of at least three parties needed to be formed in order to have a majority in the Flemish Parliament. Groen! confirmed that it did not want to take part in the new coalition, so the only coalition left was a conservative-socialist-liberal tripartite.
In the aftermath of the elections, Yves Leterme (CD&V) was selected to form a Flemish regional government.
The politics of Belgium take place in the framework of a federal, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. The King of the Belgians is the head of state, and the prime minister of Belgium is the head of government, in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. The federation is made up of (language-based) communities and (territorial) regions. Philippe is the seventh and current King of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013.
The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is a Flemish conservative liberal political party in Belgium. A smaller fraction within the party has social liberal views.
The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU).
People's Union was a Flemish nationalist political party in Belgium, formed in 1954 as a successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union.
The Flemish Movement is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemish culture and the Dutch language as well as those seeking greater political autonomy for Flanders within Belgium. It also encompassed nationalists who seek the secession of Flanders from Belgium, either through outright independence or unification with the Netherlands.
Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.
Vlaams Belang is a Flemish nationalist, and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered to be on the political far-right, although it self-describes as centre right.
Flemish political parties operate in the whole Flemish Community, which covers the unilingual Flemish Region and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. In the latter, they compete with French-speaking parties that all also operate in Wallonia. There are very few parties that operate on a national level in Belgium. Flanders generally tends to vote for right-wing, conservative parties, whereas in French-speaking Belgium the socialist party is usually the most successful one.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2006 took place on Sunday 8 October 2006. The electors have elected the municipal councillors of 589 cities and towns as well as the ten provincial councils. The voters in the town of Antwerp have also been able to vote for the city's district councils. In seven Flemish municipalities with a special language statute and in the Walloon municipality of Comines-Warneton the aldermen and the members of the OCMW/CPAS council have also been directly elected.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 13 June 2010, during the midst of the 2007-11 Belgian political crisis. After the fall of the previous Leterme II Government over the withdrawal of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the government the King dissolved the legislature and called new elections. The New Flemish Alliance, led by Bart De Wever, emerged as the plurality party with 27 seats, just one more than the francophone Socialist Party, led by Elio Di Rupo, which was the largest party in the Wallonia region and Brussels. It took a world record 541 days until a government was formed, resulting in a government led by Di Rupo.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2012 took place on 14 October. As with the previous 2006 elections, these are no longer organised by the Belgian federal state but instead by the respective regions:
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats (sp.a/PS), Christian democrats (CD&V/cdH) and liberals, respectively of the Dutch and French language groups. The government notably excluded the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Flemish nationalist party which achieved a plurality and became the largest party. Its absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, caused the government coalition to lack a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister had been openly gay, as Di Rupo became the world's first male openly gay head of government. Elio Di Rupo also became the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first prime minister from Wallonia since 1974 and first socialist prime minister since 1974.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.
Regional elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014 to choose representatives for the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. These elections were held on the same day as the 2014 European elections as well as the 2014 Belgian federal election.
Following the simultaneous federal elections and regional elections of 25 May 2014, negotiations started to form a new Federal Government as well as new regional governments: a Flemish, Walloon, French Community and Brussels Government. A Government of the German-speaking Community was formed only a few days after the elections.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019, alongside the country's European and regional elections. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from eleven multi-member constituencies.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2018 took place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions:
The 2019 Belgian regional elections took place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election as well as the Belgian federal election.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
