2024 Belgian local elections

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2024 Belgian local elections
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←  2018 13 October 2024 (2024-10-13)
All 10 provincial councils
All 565 municipal councils
All 8 directly elected OCMW/CPAS councils
All 10 Antwerp city district councils

The 2024 Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections took place on Sunday 13 October 2024, [1] four months after the simultaneous European, federal and regional elections.

Contents

The local elections were organised by the respective regions:

In the municipalities with language facilities of Voeren, Comines-Warneton and the 6 of the Brussels Periphery, the aldermen and members of the OCMW/CPAS council are directly elected.

As reflected in the number of municipalities above, some municipalities were merging. One of them, Borsbeek, merged with the city of Antwerp, becoming its tenth district. [2] In Wallonia, only Bastogne and Bertogne were merging. The mergers took effect following the 2024 elections, on the 1 January 2025, when the councils of the newly formed entities were elected.

Brussels

The municipal councils of the 19 municipalities were elected.

Voting is obligatory in Brussels and Walloon local elections.

Flanders

Elections posters in Leuven for the local elections of 2024 Aanplakbord Leuven lokale verkiezingen 2024.jpg
Elections posters in Leuven for the local elections of 2024

The Flemish decree of 16 July 2021 reformed the local electoral process, abolishing compulsory voting in Flemish local elections. [3] Voting remains obligatory in Brussels and Walloon local elections.

The decree also changed several election rules for Flemish municipal elections:

This incentivises forming larger, joint lists instead of smaller, separate ones.

Turnout was lower than expected, with on average 63.6% of voters casting a ballot. [4] Eeklo had the lowest turnout and Mesen the highest.

Electoral system

Municipal councils were elected by the Imperiali highest averages method, a form of open-list party-list proportional representation. [5]

Municipal elections

Antwerp

Two-term mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) was a candidate to continue governing the most populous city, Antwerp. [6] Main challenger was PVDA with Jos D'Haese.

Gent

Open Vld (with mayor Mathias De Clercq) and Groen (with first alderman Filip Watteeuw  [ nl ]) were the two main political parties since the 2018 elections. The current governing coalition is composed of Vooruit-Groen (a joint list in 2018), Open Vld and CD&V. Open Vld and Vooruit formed a joint "Voor Gent" list, opposing a Groen list. [7]

Mechelen

Bart Somers, mayor of Mechelen since 2001, became Flemish minister in 2019 but returned as mayor in November 2023. He headed the "Voor Mechelen" list, composed of the Open Vld, Groen and M+ governing coalition. [8]

Raes controversy

In September 2024, the Vlaams Belang sparked controversy by putting Roeland Raes who had previously been convicted of Holocaust denial as one of its candidates in the upcoming municipal elections before removing his candidacy the following day. [9] [10]

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders and Limburg were elected. Councillors are elected for a six-year term, starting on the first working day in December following the elections, thus 2 December 2024.

PartyFlag of Antwerp.svg Antwerp Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg East Flanders Flag of Flemish Brabant.svg Flemish Brabant Flag of Limburg (Belgium).svg Limburg Flag of West Flanders.svg West Flanders Total
Votes%SeatsVotes%SeatsVotes%SeatsVotes%SeatsVotes%SeatsVotes%Seats
N-VA 264,31632.9%15171,64622.7%9128,40724.7%1081,44020.8%7116,95520.3%7762,76425.6% (Increase2.svg 0.8pp)48 (Increase2.svg 2)
CD&V 116,86214.5%5122,88716.9%793,14117.9%799,15725.4%10147,81425.6%11579,86119.5% (Decrease2.svg 0.2pp)40 (Steady2.svg)
Vlaams Belang 144,48318%7132,75618.2%766,92712.9%569,91017.9%6112,89619.6%8526,97217.7% (Increase2.svg 4.7pp)33 (Increase2.svg 9)
Vooruit 88,12711%4101,03113.9%566,62612.8%556,45614.4%491,38915.8%6403,62913.5% (Increase2.svg 3.1pp)24 (Increase2.svg 6)
Groen 81,11610.1%386,73211.9%452,68910.1%319,6725%137,8507.3%2278,0599.3% (Decrease2.svg 3.9pp)13 (Decrease2.svg 8)
Open Vld 37,4234.7%082,26711.3%455,46410.7%441,79912.7%346,3648%2263,3178.8% (Decrease2.svg 4.9pp)13 (Decrease2.svg 10)
PVDA 51,4054.5%131,6334.1%019,5553.8%016,3074.2%014,4362.5%0133,3364.7% (Increase2.svg 1.5pp)1 (Steady2.svg)
Others13,3781.7%07,2190.9%05,8641.1%07,8071.4%06,4431.6%040,7111.3% (Decrease2.svg 0.3pp)0
UF ——31,4286%2——31,4280.7%2 (Decrease2.svg 3)
Total767,110100%36736,171100%36478,503100%36423,976100%31574,147100%362,979,907100%175

Wallonia

Election posters in Rochefort. Municipal election posters in Han-sur-Lesse, Rochefort, 2024.jpg
Election posters in Rochefort.

The five provincial councils and the municipal councils were elected.

In eight municipalities, only one electoral list was submitted: their candidates were automatically elected. This was the case in Herbeumont, Houffalize, Rouvroy, Anhée, Bièvre, Vresse-sur-Semois, Limbourg and Verlaine. [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Verkiezingen 2024: Wanneer moeten we gaan stemmen? En wat kiezen we precies?" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 14 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Borsbeek keurt fusie goed en wordt in 2025 tiende district van Antwerpen" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 18 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Opkomstplicht op lokaal en provinciaal niveau afgeschaft: straks ook niet meer verplicht stemmen voor federale verkiezingen?". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 15 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "Opkomstcijfers verrassend laag: meer dan een derde van de Vlamingen bleef thuis". VRT NWS. 13 October 2024.
  5. ↑ Gallagher, Michael (1992). "Comparing Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Quotas, Thresholds, Paradoxes and Majorities". British Journal of Political Science. 22 (4): 469–496. ISSN   0007-1234.
  6. ↑ "Bart De Wever is in oktober opnieuw kandidaat-burgemeester in Antwerpen" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 20 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "Liberalen en socialisten keuren stadslijst "Voor Gent" goed en trekken samen naar verkiezingen in 2024". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 26 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "Bart Somers licht ontslag toe en stelt nieuwe stadslijst 'Voor Mechelen' voor: Somers wordt lijsttrekker, Calvo lijstduwer". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 November 2023.
  9. ↑ Starcevic, Seb (18 September 2024). "Belgian far-right party puts convicted Holocaust denier up for local elections". Politico. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  10. ↑ "Vlaams Belang retracts convicted Holocaust denier's candidacy for local elections". 19 September 2024.
  11. ↑ "Elections communales : une seule liste dans quelques communes, la démocratie est-elle vraiment assurée ?" (in French). RTBF. 4 October 2024.

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