Belgian local elections, 2012

Last updated
Belgian local elections, 2012
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg
←  2006 14 October 2012 (2012-10-14) 2018  →
All 10 provincial councils
All 589 municipal councils
All 8 directly elected OCMW/CPAS councils
All 9 Antwerp city district councils

Belgian local elections map 2012.png
Map indicating the language areas and provinces of Belgium. Provinces are marked by the thinner black lines. Dutch-speaking French-speaking German-speaking Bilingual FR/NL Community: Region: Flemish Flanders Flemish and French Brussels French Wallonia German-speaking Wallonia Belgium provinces regions striped.png
Map indicating the language areas and provinces of Belgium. Provinces are marked by the thinner black lines.
  Dutch-speaking
 
  French-speaking
  German-speaking
 
  Bilingual FR/NL
Community: Region:
Flemish   Flanders
Flemish and French   Brussels
French   Wallonia
German-speaking   Wallonia

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:

Belgium Federal constitutional monarchy in Western Europe

Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the southwest, and the North Sea to the northwest. It covers an area of 30,688 square kilometres (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.4 million. The capital and largest city is Brussels; other major cities are Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège.

Provinces of Belgium subdivision of Belgium

The country of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, the Flemish Region or Flanders, and Walloon Region, or Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, is not divided into provinces, as it was originally only a small part of a province itself.

Municipalities of Belgium administrative division of Belgium

Belgium comprises 581 municipalities grouped into five provinces in each of two regions and into a third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, comprising 19 municipalities that do not belong to a province. In most cases, the municipalities are the smallest administrative subdivisions of Belgium, but in municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, on the initiative of the local council, sub-municipal administrative entities with elected councils may be created. As such, only Antwerp, having over 500,000 inhabitants, became subdivided into nine districts. The Belgian arrondissements, an administrative level between province and municipality, or the lowest judicial level, are in English sometimes called districts as well.

Contents

Flemish Region Region of Belgium

The Flemish Region is one of the three regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as Flanders. It occupies the northern part of Belgium and covers an area of 13,522 km2. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 480 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Antwerp Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Antwerp is a city in Belgium, and is the capital of Antwerp province in Flanders. With a population of 520,504, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium, and with 1,200,000 the second largest metropolitan region after Brussels.

Districts of Antwerp urban districts of the city of Antwerp, Belgium

The Belgian city of Antwerp consists of nine former municipalities which have the special status of district.

  1. Antwerp
  2. Berchem
  3. Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo
  4. Borgerhout
  5. Deurne
  6. Ekeren
  7. Hoboken
  8. Merksem
  9. Wilrijk

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. [1]

Municipalities with language facilities Belgium

There are 27 municipalities with language facilities in Belgium which must offer linguistic services to residents in either Dutch, French, or German in addition to their official languages. All other municipalities – with the exception of those in the Brussels region which is bilingual – are unilingual and only offer services in their official languages, either Dutch or French.

Voeren Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Voeren is a Flemish municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Walloon province of Liège to the south, it is geographically detached from the rest of Flanders, making Voeren an exclave of Flanders. Voeren's name is derived from that of a small right-bank tributary of the Meuse, the Voer, which flows through the municipality.

Comines-Warneton Municipality in French Community, Belgium

Comines-Warneton is a Belgian city and municipality in the Walloon province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006, it had a total population of 17,562. Its total area is 61.09 km2 (23.59 sq mi) which gives a population density of 287 inhabitants per square kilometre (740/sq mi). The name "Comines" is believed to have a Celtic, or Gaulish, origin. Comines-Warneton is a municipality with language facilities for Dutch-speakers.

Mayors are not directly elected, instead the respective regional government (of Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) appoint one of the elected municipal councillors. The councillors usually propose a candidate.

The result in Wallonia was largely a continuation of the major parties, without any big power shifts. In Flanders however, the nationalist party N-VA, which won in previous regional and federal elections, continued their success and became (one of) the largest party in many municipalities and the largest in three out of five provinces.

Electoral system

Parties

National political parties are mostly separated by language community. A lot of municipalities have local parties as well as a presence of national parties. Here are the most important national parties:

New Flemish Alliance political party in Flanders/Belgium

The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium, founded in 2001. The N-VA is a regionalist and separatist movement that self-identifies with the promotion of civic nationalism. It is part of the Flemish Movement, and strives for the peaceful and gradual secession of Flanders from Belgium. In recent years it has become the largest party of Flanders as well as of Belgium as a whole, and it participated in the 2014–18 Belgian Government until December 9, 2018.

<i>Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams</i> political party in Flanders/Belgium

Christian Democratic and Flemish is a Christian democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism (ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party was named the Christian People's Party.

Socialistische Partij Anders political party in Flanders/Belgium

Socialist Party Differently is a social-democratic Flemish political party in Belgium. The party, formerly known as the Belgische Socialistische Partij (BSP) 1978–80 and the Socialistische Partij (SP) 1980–2001, emerged from the Belgian Socialist Party linguistic and community split in 1978 which also produced the Parti Socialiste; the Belgian Socialist Party was itself formed by former members of the Belgian Labour Party. From December 2011 to September 2014, sp.a was part of the Di Rupo Government, along with its Francophone counterpart Socialist Party (PS). Sp.a has been part of the Flemish Government several times.

Foreign residents

For the third time, non-Belgian EU residents may vote and be candidate for the municipal elections under the same conditions as Belgian residents, and for the second time non-Belgian non-EU residents may vote, but not be candidate, after 5 years residency. As voting is compulsory and Belgium may not impose voting on foreign residents, would-be voters from both categories have to fill a document and go to their municipal administration before August 1, 2012 to be included on the list of electors. Non-EU residents have to sign a document accepting to conform to Belgian laws and Constitution. [2] The percentage of foreign residents who are enlisted as electors has severely declined from 2006 to 2012: from 20.9% to 14.85% for EU residents, from 15.7% to 6.30% for non-EU residents (still including Bulgarians and Rumanians in 2006). [3]

Brussels

Municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region Brussels-Capital Region blank.svg
Municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region

The Brussels-Capital Region is made up of 19 municipalities (of which one is the city of Brussels) which are not part of any province.

In these municipalities, French-speaking parties are usually the largest ones, mostly PS and MR. FDF, previously forming a cartel with MR and also strong in Brussels municipalities, will now contend on its own, but dissidents from both former partners are contending on the other party's list, particularly in the municipalities where they are currently part of the majority coalition.

Dutch-speaking parties will in some municipalities form a cartel either with their French counterpart or in a larger "Mayor's List", as is the case this time between Ecolo and Groen! in all 19 municipalities, and with PS and SP.A in 17 out of 19. The only Dutch-speaking list with support from most Dutch-speaking parties is Samen (CD&V, Open VLD, SP.A and independents) in Auderghem. N-VA announced it will contend on its own in at least 10 out of the 19 municipalities. [4] 78 Dutch-speaking Dutch-speaking candidates were elected this time in the municipal councils.

There were 613,768 registered voters, an increase of 21,746 compared to 2006. Despite compulsory voting, only 508,575 or 82.86% cast a vote, of which 29.370 were invalid votes (6.13% of votes cast). The lowest turnout was in Elsene (80.11%), whereas Sint-Pieters-Woluwe featured the highest (87.27%). Sint-Jans-Molenbeek had the highest proportion of invalid votes (9.71%), whereas Sint-Pieters-Woluwe had the lowest (2.70%). [5]

Results

Results are available via http://bruxelleselections2012.irisnet.be/

MunicipalityTotal seatsCDH
(-CD&V)		Ecolo-
Green		LBMR-
Open VLD		PS-
sp.a		Flemish InterestN-VAFDFOther
Anderlecht 47 (+2)*514*121 (PS-SP.A-CDH)
Brussels 49 (+2)1071018-13
Elsene 43 (+2)411815--05
Etterbeek 35461753
Evere 33 (+2)34166*-14
Ganshoren 27211617 (ProGanshoren)
Jette 3545101112 (LBJ), 2 (Les Liberaux)
Koekelberg 27 (+2)-316-8---
Oudergem 29 (+2)14232--1
Schaarbeek 474718413--1
Sint-Agatha-Berchem 27364121 (Berch'm), 10 (LBR)
Sint-Gillis 3528196----
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek 43 (+4)641615--13
Sint-Joost-ten-Node 29 (+2)55163 (Bleus de St-Josse)
Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe 37 (+2)332461---
Sint-Pieters-Woluwe 33-314-1--15
Ukkel 4137-215--5
Vorst 37 (+2)37-1014--3
Watermaal-Bosvoorde 27-71032---

Flanders

The five provincial councils were up for election, as well as the municipal councils of all 308 municipalities along with the district councils in the city of Antwerp and the OCMW councils in seven municipalities with language facilities for French speakers.

The nationalist party N-VA became the largest party in the 2010 federal election. It was expected that the party would now achieve a number of seats in many Flemish municipalities, which was indeed the case. Local lists include cartels between two parties and independents, varying from one municipality to another, e.g. SP.A and CD&V in the city of Antwerp, but SP.A and Groen! in the districts of Antwerp and in Ghent, Open VLD and Groen! (and a splinter group from the CD&V) in Mechelen.

Parties on the right, CD&V, Open VLD and Vlaams Belang, generally lose votes in previous elections whereas N-VA has grown a lot.

The socialist party SP.A is especially successful in large cities, but has slightly been losing votes in previous elections too.

The green party Groen remains stable with a relatively low percentage of votes.

Results are available via http://vlaanderenkiest.be/verkiezingen2012/

Voting being mandatory but unenforced, turnout was lowest in Antwerp city (85.56%), specifically the city centre district (82.98%), as well as Oostende (85.98%), followed mostly by the linguistically sensitive municipalities in the Brussels Periphery.

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders and Limburg were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced.

In East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and especially Antwerp, N-VA became the largest party in the province, followed by CD&V. In Limburg and West Flanders, CD&V remained the biggest party followed by N-VA.

ProvinceTotal seatsCD&VVlaams BelangGroenN-VAOpen VLDPVDA+SP.AUF
Flag of Antwerp.svg  Antwerp 72 (Decrease2.svg 12)16.8 (13)10.8 (7)9.3 (6)35.9 (27)10.1 (7)3.4 (2)12.8 (10)—
Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg  East Flanders 72 (Decrease2.svg 12)19.8 (15)9.3 (6)9 (6)26.1 (21)19.3 (15)1.7 (0)12.7 (9)—
Flemish Brabant Flag.png  Flemish Brabant 72 (Decrease2.svg 12)19.5 (15)6.7 (5)9.6 (7)25.8 (19)16.8 (13)1.2 (0)12.1 (8)7.1 (5)
Flag of Limburg (Belgium).svg  Limburg 63 (Decrease2.svg 12)27.5 (18)9.1 (6)†26.1 (17)14.1 (9)2.2 (0)20.1 (13)†—
Flag of West Flanders.svg  West Flanders 72 (Decrease2.svg 12)27.6 (21)7.7 (5)7.5 (4)25.3 (20)13.4 (10)1.3 (0)15.8 (12)—
Total351 (Decrease2.svg 60)
PartyVotes%+/– (2006)Seats+/– (2006)
New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)1,165,93828.5*104*
Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)877,01921.5*82*
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)595,93214.6Decrease2.svg 4.454
Socialist Party–Different (SP.A)580,07811.5Decrease2.svg 7.751†
Flemish Interest (VB)365,4398.9Decrease2.svg 12.629
Green 314,5387.7Increase2.svg 0.124†
Union des Francophones (UF)48,9201.25Decrease2.svg 1
Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA+)84,0372.1Increase2.svg 2.12Increase2.svg 2
Other parties55,2841.4—
Valid votes4,087,185
Invalid votes
Blanco votes
Total351

† In Limburg: coalition SP.A - Groen. Only one of the 13 elected candidates (Hassan Amaghlaou) is a member of Groen.

Municipal elections

Below are the results for the municipal council elections of the eight most populous cities, which include the five provincial capitals.

Aalst

After the election, Christoph D'Haese became mayor of Aalst (in East Flanders), succeeding Ilse Uyttersprot.

Aalst City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
N-VA Christoph D'Haese (15 seats won)17,31231.1%
CD&V Ilse Uyttersprot (8 seats won)9,61817.3%
Open Vld Jean-Jacques De Gucht (7 seats won)9,61617.3%
sp.a Ann Van de Steen (7 seats won)9,11416.4%
Vlaams Belang Michel Van Brempt (4 seats won)6,00310.8%–12
Groen Andreas Verleysen (2 seats won)3,2685.9%+1.2
PVDA+/PTB Romain Dierickx (no seats won)6611.2%+0.5

Antwerp

A lot of attention goes to the city of Antwerp, where Bart De Wever, the president of N-VA, wants to become mayor and put an end to decades of socialist mayors, the current one being Patrick Janssens (sp.a). Christian-democrat CD&V and socialist sp.a will form one list. Also Wouter Van Besien (president of Groen) is contending for the position of mayor, and Filip Dewinter of extreme-right Vlaams Belang is campaigning in Antwerp. According to a poll, N-VA would get 42,9% of the votes, giving 26 out of 55 seats in the municipal party, and 46,5% would like to see De Wever become the new mayor. [6]

Antwerp City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
N-VA Bart De Wever (23 seats won)102,79537.7%
sp.a-CD&V joint list Patrick Janssens (17 seats won)77,86728.6%
Vlaams Belang Filip Dewinter (5 seats won)27,82410.2%
PVDA+/PTB Peter Mertens (4 seats won)21,7208.0%+6.2
Groen Meyrem Almaci (4 seats won)21,6587.9%+3.2
Open Vld Annemie Turtelboom (2 seats won)15,0985.5%
Others(no seats won)5,4732.0%

Bruges

In Bruges (capital of West Flanders), the incumbent mayor Patrick Moenaert  (nl ) (CD&V), who led a coalition of CD&V/N-VA, SP.A and VLD (which were all represented parties except Groen and VB), quit so all possibilities remained open. Polls gave CD&V, SP.A and N-VA as major parties. [7]

Bruges City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
sp.a Renaat Landuyt (14 seats won)21,56726.8%
CD&V Dirk De Fauw (13 seats won)21,40426.6%
N-VA Anne Minne-Soete (10 seats won)15,94819.8%
Open Vld Mercedes Van Volcem (5 seats won)8,85911.0%
Groen Sammy Roelant (3 seats won)7,1238.8%+2.3
Vlaams Belang Alain Quataert (2 seats won)4,3505.4%–10.8
Others(no seats won)1,3271.7%

Gent

In Ghent (capital of East Flanders), the incumbent mayor Daniël Termont is very popular. SP.A, his party, now formed a cartel with Groen. Polls predict the cartel will get about 43% of the votes. The parties Open VLD of Mathias De Clercq and N-VA of Siegfried Bracke follow after a gap. [8]

Ghent City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
sp.a-Groen Daniël Termont (25 seats won)69,35645.5%
N-VA Siegfried Bracke (9 seats won)26,06417.1%
Open Vld Mathias De Clercq (9 seats won)25,16716.5%
CD&V Veli Yüksel (4 seats won)13,8349.1%
Vlaams Belang Johan Deckmyn (3 seats won)9,9666.5%–11.5
PVDA+/PTB Tom De Meester (no seats won)4,4312.9%+1.9
Others(no seats won)3,6942.4%

Hasselt

Hasselt City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
Helemaal Hasselt Hilde Claes (15 seats won)16,98733.0%
N-VA Steven Vandeput (11 seats won)13,13025.5%
CD&V Ivo Belet (10 seats won)21,40426.6%
Groei met Open Vld Laurence Libert (4 seats won)5,0969.9%
Vlaams Belang Katleen Martens (1 seat won)2.8455,5%–8.4
Leefbaar HasseltJan Marechal (no seats won)1.6773,3%

Kortrijk

Vincent Van Quickenborne became mayor of Kortrijk (in West Flanders), with a coalition of Open Vld, N-VA and sp.a, defeating incumbent mayor Stefaan De Clerck and his CD&V, thereby ending a 150-year period of Catholic and Christian democratic mayors in the city.

Kortrijk City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
CD&V Stefaan De Clerck (15 seats won)16,66633%
Open Vld Vincent Van Quickenborne (9 seats won)10,77121.3%–0.2
N-VA Rudolf Scherpereel (7 seats won)8,24716.3%
sp.a Philippe De Coene (6 seats won)7,22214.3%
Groen Bart Caron (2 seats won)3,7157.4%+1.8
Vlaams Belang Maarten Seynaeve (2 seats won)3,0726.1%–8.3
Others(no seats won)8411.7%

Leuven

In Leuven (capital of Flemish Brabant), polls indicated that SP.A, the party of incumbent mayor Louis Tobback, would still be the largest. N-VA, CD&V and Groen follow after a gap. [9]

Leuven City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
sp.a Louis Tobback (16 seats won)18,30031.4%
N-VA Danny Pieters (9 seats won)11,09119.0%
CD&V Carl Devlies (9 seats won)10,78018.5%
Groen Fatiha Dahmani (7 seats won)9,00815.5%+4.2
Open Vld / LEUVEN+ Rik Daems (3 seats won)4,5617.8%
Vlaams Belang Hagen Goyvaerts (1 seat won)2,1733.7%–7.9
PVDA+/PTB Tine Van Rompuy (no seats won)1,6562.8%+1.7
Others(no seats won)6741.1%

Mechelen

Bart Somers (Open Vld), mayor since 2001, continued after the elections with his "vld-Groen-m+ city list", but with N-VA and CD&V as coalition partners instead of sp.a. Sp.a became opposition, along with a significantly reduced Vlaams Belang.

Mechelen City Council election, 2012
Party Main candidate Votes%±
vld-Groen-m+ Bart Somers (16 seats won)17,90033.9%
N-VA Marc Hendrickx (11 seats won)12,24423.2%
sp.a Caroline Gennez (8 seats won)9,61018.2%
CD&V Walter Schroons (5 seats won)6,52412.4%
Vlaams Belang Frank Creyelman (3 seats won)4,5898.7%–17.8
PVDA+/PTB Dirk Tuypens (no seats won)1,6103.0%+2.4
Bewoners PartijJan Mussin (no seats won)3280.6%

Wallonia

PS and MR are generally the two largest parties, followed by Ecolo and CDH. In the province of Luxembourg, CDH is generally more successful. No major trends or shifts were expected nor happened.

Results are available via https://web.archive.org/web/20121015010835/http://elections2012.wallonie.be/results/fr/

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Namur, Walloon Brabant, Liège, Hainaut and Luxembourg were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced.

ProvinceTotal seatsCDHCSPEcoloFDFMRPFF-MRPSPTB+SP
Flag of Hainaut.svg  Hainaut 56 (Decrease2.svg 28)14.39%6 (Decrease2.svg 9)—10.88%4 (Decrease2.svg 1)2.3%023.17%16 (Decrease2.svg 7)—39.68%30 (Decrease2.svg 8)2.5%0—
Flag of the Province of Liege.svg  Liège 56 (Decrease2.svg 28)13.76%7 (Decrease2.svg 6)1.72%1 (Increase2.svg 1)14.76%8 (Decrease2.svg 3)1.7%025.16%16 (Decrease2.svg 6)1.74%1 (Increase2.svg 1)32.22%20 (Decrease2.svg 12)4.71%2 (Increase2.svg 2)0.72%1 (Increase2.svg 1)
Unofficial flag of the Province of Luxembourg.svg  Luxembourg 37 (Decrease2.svg 10)34.95%14 (Decrease2.svg 8)—11.58%2 (Decrease2.svg 1)1.8%026.0611 (Decrease2.svg 6)—23.03%10 (Decrease2.svg 4)0.6%0—
Flag province namur.svg  Namur 37 (Decrease2.svg 19)19.87%8 (Decrease2.svg 6)—13.97%4 (Decrease2.svg 3)2.4%029.79%13 (Decrease2.svg 4)—27.82%12 (Decrease2.svg 6)2.1%0—
Drapeau Province BE Brabant Wallon.svg  Walloon Brabant 37 (Decrease2.svg 19)12.26%5 (Decrease2.svg 4)—16.296 (Decrease2.svg 3)4.78%2 (Increase2.svg 2)42.44%17 (Decrease2.svg 7)—17.33%7 (Decrease2.svg 5)0.8%0—
Total223 (Decrease2.svg 104)16,96%*40113,17%242,41%227,71%*73131,99%*792,77%21

Municipal elections

City (Provincial capital)CDHEcoloMRPSOther
Arlon 11468—
Liège 7611223
Mons 338292
Namur 1661015—
Wavre 34*420 (LB)

Related Research Articles

Flemish Brabant Province of Belgium

Flemish Brabant is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region. Its capital is Leuven. It has an area of 2,106 km² which is divided into two administrative districts containing 65 municipalities.

East Flanders Province of Belgium

East Flanders is a province of Belgium. It borders the Netherlands and the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut and West Flanders. It has an area of 2,991 km², divided into six administrative districts containing 60 municipalities, and a population of 1,408,484. The capital is Ghent.

Ninove Municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

Ninove is a city and municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders in Belgium. It is situated on the river Dender, and is part of the Denderstreek. The municipality comprises the city of Ninove proper and since the 1976 merger of the towns of Appelterre-Eichem, Aspelare, Denderwindeke, Lieferinge, Meerbeke, Nederhasselt, Neigem, Okegem, Outer, Pollare and Voorde. On 1 January 2012 Ninove had a total population of 37,289. The total area is 72.57 km² which gives a population density of 514 inhabitants per km².

Sociaal-Liberale Partij political party

Sociaal-Liberale Partij was a Belgian Flemish political party formed after dissolution of the moderate nationalist People's Union (Volksunie) party. Prior to 19 April 2008 it was known as Spirit, and intermediately as Flemish Progressives (VlaamsProgressieven). The party merged with Groen in the end of 2009, ceasing to exist.

Political parties in Belgium Wikimedia list article

Belgium is a federal state with a multi-party political system, with numerous parties who factually have no chance of gaining power alone, and therefore must work with each other to form coalition governments.

Flemish Movement political movement for emancipation and greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders

The Flemish Movement is the political movement for greater autonomy of the Belgian region of Flanders, for protection of the Dutch language, for the overall protection of Flemish culture and history, and in some cases, for splitting from Belgium and forming an independent state.

Politics of Flanders

Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.

Vlaams Belang political party in Flanders, Belgium

Vlaams Belang is a right-wing populist and Flemish nationalist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels of Belgium.

Political parties in Flanders Wikimedia list article

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.

Flemish Government the executive of the Flemish Community and Flemish Region in Belgium

The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, and the public administration divided into 13 policy areas, each with an executive department and multiple agencies.

VLOTT political party

VLOTT is a minor Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. Its title, VLOTT, is a backronym for "Flemish, Liberal, Independent, Tolerant, Transparent". It was founded on 23 November 2005 by ex-Open VLD member Hugo Coveliers. It participated in a list-cartel with the Vlaams Belang in the October 2006 Antwerp municipal elections and in selected provincial, municipal and district elections elsewhere in Flanders. Despite the popularity of their founder in Antwerp the shared effort of the cartel-partners did only result in a small 0.5 percent win, with no extra seat in the city-council. In 2007, VLOTT did not participate in the general elections, but their candidates appeared as independents on the Vlaams Belang ballots. Only founder Hugo Coveliers was elected to the Belgian Senate. After Coveliers withdrawal from active politics early 2012 Vlaams Belang stopped its cooperation with the party.

2006 Belgian local elections elections of the Belgian provincial, municipal and district councils

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.

2007 Belgian federal election

The 2007 Belgian federal election took place on Sunday 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.

The 2007–2008 Belgian government formation followed the general election of 10 June 2007, and comprised a period of negotiation in which the Flemish parties Flemish Liberal Democratic, Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), and the French-speaking parties Reformist Movement (MR), Democratic Front of Francophones (FDF) and Humanist Democratic Centre (CdH) negotiated to form a government coalition. The negotiations were characterized by the disagreement between the Dutch- and French-speaking parties about the need for and nature of a constitutional reform. According to some, this political conflict could have led to a partition of Belgium.

2010 Belgian federal election elections in Belgium

Elections for the Federal Parliament 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.

2014 Belgian federal election elections in Belgium

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.

2019 Belgian federal election election for the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium on 26 May 2019

The 2019 Belgian federal election will take place on the same day as the 2019 European Parliament elections and the 2019 Belgian regional elections, being 26 May 2019, unless snap elections are called.

2018 Belgian local elections elections of the Belgian provincial, municipal and district councils

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 will take place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election as well as the Belgian federal election unless snap federal elections are called.

References

  1. ↑ "vlaanderenkiest.be" . Retrieved 2011-10-17.
  2. ↑ Document for EU residents (French) [ dead link ], Dutch) Archived August 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ., for non-EU residents (French) Archived June 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ., (Dutch Archived August 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine .), Website of the Interior Ministry
  3. ↑ Statistiques officielles des électeurs Archived February 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ., Website of the Interior Ministry
  4. ↑ N-VA neemt in minstens tien Brusselse gemeenten deel aan gemeenteraadsverkiezingen, 23 May 2012, n-va.be
  5. ↑ Cijfers gemeenteraadsverkiezingen 2012, Brio Brussel
  6. ↑ "Antwerpenaars kiezen massaal voor De Wever in peiling" (in Dutch). deredactie.be.
  7. ↑ "Nek-aan-nekrace tussen CD&V en SP.A in Brugge" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
  8. ↑ "Kartel van Termont blaast tegenstand weg in Gent" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
  9. ↑ "Tobback blijft stevig in het zadel in Leuven" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
  10. ↑ The official results of the 2018 provincial elections in Wallonia, 14 October 2018, elections2018.wallonie.be
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.