the other vote of June 9

On this date not only the European elections will take place in Belgium, but also the legislative and regional elections.

Next month, Belgium will elect 22 MEPs but also 463 deputies, who will sit in four separate parliaments: the Walloon, Flemish, Brussels parliaments and that of the small German-speaking community. And at the end of the vote, the Belgian parties will have to agree to form a new government.

Puzzle in perspective! Since September 2020, a coalition of seven parties has governed the kingdom, with a rather popular man at its head, the liberal Flemish Alexander De Croo. But the traditional parties that make up this coalition are strongly threatened by the announced surge of radical parties, from both the right and the left.

On the morning of June 10, Belgium could wake up sharply divided on both sides of its linguistic border. In Flanders, the Vlams Belang, a far-right nationalist party, is in the lead, credited with more than 25% of the votes in the polls. Its slogan “Our people first!” hits the mark, particularly among young people and in a political context where immigration is at the forefront of public debate.

On the French-speaking side, where the debate focuses more on unemployment and public debt, the Socialist Party, traditionally powerful, is facing a strong push from the far left. The Workers’ Party, credited with 15% of the vote, benefits from the absence of a far-right party in Wallonia to attract the entire protest vote. The announced victory of such politically opposed parties revives fears of a paralysis of the kingdom. In 2010, it took 541 days to form a government!

On the other hand, in Belgium there is no fear of abstention: voting is compulsory there. And if you don’t present a good excuse, you can be fined. Except 16-17 year olds, invited for the first time to vote in the European elections: their vote is also compulsory, but they cannot be sanctioned.