2019 European Parliament election in Belgium

Last updated

2019 European Parliament election in Belgium
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg
  2014 26 May 2019 2024  

All 21 Belgian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout88.47%
 First partySecond partyThird party
  Geert Bourgeois.jpg Gerolf-annemans-1398165754.jpg Members debate and vote on the EU-UK withdrawal agreement (49459809218) (cropped 2).jpg
Leader Geert Bourgeois Gerolf Annemans Guy Verhofstadt
Party N-VA VB Open Vld
Alliance ECR EAPN ALDE
Last election4 seats, 16.79%1 seat, 4.26%3 seats, 12.84%
Seats won332
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 1Increase2.svg 2Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote954,048811,169678,051
Percentage14.17%12.05%10.07%
SwingDecrease2.svg 2.62%Increase2.svg 7.79%Decrease2.svg 2.77%

 Fourth partyFifth partySixth party
  Paul Magnette 2012.jpg Kris-peeters-1391318830 (cropped).jpg Marc Botenga (48941651437) (cropped).jpg
Leader Paul Magnette Kris Peeters Marc Botenga
Party PS CD&V PVDA-PTB
Alliance PES EPP GUE/NGL
Last election3 seats, 10.68%2 seats, 12.57%0 seats, 3.51%
Seats won221
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 1Steady2.svg 0Increase2.svg 1
Popular vote655,812617,651566,274
Percentage9.74%9.17%8.42%
SwingDecrease2.svg 1.03%Decrease2.svg 3.39%Increase2.svg 4.91%

 Seventh partyEighth partyNinth party
  Petra de Sutter at ILGA conference 2018 Political Town Hall 06 (cropped) 2.jpg Philippe Lamberts.jpg Olivier chastel.jpg
Leader Petra De Sutter Philippe Lamberts Olivier Chastel
Party Groen Ecolo MR
Alliance Green Green ALDE
Last election1 seat, 6.69%1 seat, 4.26%3 seats, 9.88%
Seats won122
Seat changeSteady2.svg 0Increase2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 1
Popular vote525,908492,330475,338
Percentage7.81%7.31%7.06%
SwingIncrease2.svg 1.13%Increase2.svg 2.95%Decrease2.svg 2.92%

Map of the European Parliament election (2019) (Belgium).svg

An election was held on 26 May 2019 in the three Belgian constituencies (the Dutch-speaking electoral college, the French-speaking electoral college and the German-speaking electoral college) to elect the Belgian delegation to the European Parliament. It was part of the 2019 European Parliament election.

Contents

A royal order of 15 June 2018 fixed the date of the European Parliament election in Belgium, following an agreement at European level. [1] Per the Belgian Constitution, the Belgian regional elections, and additionally the Belgian federal election because no snap election occurred, were automatically held on the same day.

Marianne Thyssen, who was re-elected Member of the European Parliament in 2014 as lijsttrekker for CD&V and who subsequently became European Commissioner, announced in July 2018 that she would quit politics in 2019. [2]

Electoral system

.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Dutch-speaking electoral college (12 MEPs)
French-speaking electoral college (8 MEPs)
German-speaking electoral college (1 MEP) Communities of Belgium.svg
  Dutch-speaking electoral college (12 MEPs)
  French-speaking electoral college (8 MEPs)
  German-speaking electoral college (1 MEP)

As the reapportionment after Brexit did not impact the number of seats allocated to Belgium, 21 MEPs were elected in Belgium, as in the 2014 election. One of them is by law allocated to the German-speaking electoral college and the remaining ones are allocated to the Dutch-speaking and to the French-speaking electoral college in accordance with a population formula, giving them respectively twelve and eight seats, as in 2014. [3]

Voters could only vote on the lists depending on the language area they live in. This means that in the bilingual arrondissement of Brussels-Capital, voters could choose whether to vote for the Dutch-speaking or for the French-speaking electoral college. There was an exception to this rule for the six municipalities with language facilities in the Brussels Periphery, whose inhabitants could also opt to vote for French-speaking lists despite being in the Dutch language area.

Seats were allocated according to the D'Hondt method in each of the three electoral colleges; however, the German-speaking electoral college de facto used a first-past-the-post system, since it elected only one MEP. The electoral threshold was 5%, which was based on the vote share per electoral college rather than nationally.

All Belgian citizens aged 18 or over and residing in Belgium were obligated to participate in the election.

Other EU citizens residing in Belgium as well as Belgians living in another EU member state had the right to vote on Belgian lists in European Parliament elections. The law of 17 November 2016 extended this right to Belgians living in a non-EU member state, which was already possible for federal elections.

Results

PartyVotes%Seats
French-speaking electoral college
Socialist Party 651,15726.692
Ecolo 485,65519.912
Reformist Movement 470,65419.292
Workers' Party of Belgium 355,88314.591
Humanist Democratic Centre 218,0788.941
DéFI 144,5555.920
People's Party 113,7934.660
Total2,439,775100.008
Dutch-speaking electoral college
New Flemish Alliance 954,04822.443
Vlaams Belang 811,16919.083
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats 678,05115.952
Christian Democratic and Flemish 617,65114.532
Green 525,90812.371
Socialist Party Differently 434,00210.211
Workers' Party of Belgium 210,3914.950
Volt Belgium 20,3850.480
Total4,251,605100.0012
German-speaking electoral college
Christian Social Party 14,24734.941
Ecolo 6,67516.370
ProDG 5,36013.140
Partei für Freiheit und FortschrittReformist Movement 4,68411.490
Socialist Party 4,65511.420
Vivant 4,55011.160
DierAnimal 6061.490
Total40,777100.001
Valid votes6,732,15793.68
Invalid/blank votes454,5206.32
Total votes7,186,677100.00
Registered voters/turnout8,122,98588.47
Source: Belgian Elections

Elected members

PartyElected members
Dutch-speaking electoral college (12)
New Flemish Alliance (3) Geert Bourgeois, Assita Kanko, Johan Van Overtveldt
Vlaams Belang (3) Gerolf Annemans, Filip De Man, Tom Vandendriessche [4]
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (2) Guy Verhofstadt, Hilde Vautmans
Christian Democratic & Flemish (2) Kris Peeters, Cindy Franssen
Groen (1) Petra De Sutter
Socialist Party Differently (1) Kathleen Van Brempt
French-speaking electoral college (8)
Socialist Party (2) Marie Arena, Marc Tarabella [5]
Ecolo (2) Philippe Lamberts, Saskia Bricmont
Reformist Movement (2) Olivier Chastel, Frédérique Ries
Workers' Party of Belgium (1) Marc Botenga
Humanist Democratic Centre (1) Benoît Lutgen
German-speaking electoral college (1)
Christian Social Party (1) Pascal Arimont

Groups

From 2019 European Parliament election#Groups

AllianceSeats
European People's Party (EPP)4
Renew Europe (RE)4
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)3
Identity and Democracy (ID)3
European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)3
Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)3
European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)1
Non-Inscrits 0

Outgoing delegation

Belgian parties in the European Parliament in the eighth legislature (2014–2019)
Group21Dutch-speaking electoral college12French-speaking electoral college8German-speaking electoral college1
ALDE 6 Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)3 Reformist Movement (MR)3
ECR 4 New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)4
S&D 4 Socialist Party Differently (sp.a)1 Socialist Party (PS)3
EPP 4 Christian Democratic & Flemish (CD&V)2 Humanist Democratic Centre (cdH)1 Christian Social Party (CSP)1
Greens-EFA 2 Groen 1 Ecolo 1
ENF 1 Vlaams Belang (VB)1

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References

  1. 15 juni 2018. - Koninklijk besluit tot vastlegging van de datum van de verkiezing van het Europese Parlement
  2. "Marianne Thyssen stapt volgend jaar uit de politiek: "Er is ook een leven ernaast"". 12 July 2018.
  3. 30 JULI 2018. - Koninklijk besluit tot vaststelling van het aantal zetels dat toegekend wordt aan het Nederlandse kiescollege en het Franse kiescollege voor de verkiezing van het Europees Parlement
  4. Patsy Vatlet resigned from her seat before inauguration.
  5. Paul Magnette resigned from his seat before inauguration.