Elections 2024: Brussels voter turnout at 80 per cent despite compulsory voting

Despite compulsory voting laws in the Brussels-Capital Region, voter turnout in Sunday’s local elections reached only 80 per cent, The Brussels Times reports.

For the first time, Flanders removed the obligation to vote in its local elections, leading to a sharp decline in turnout. Only 63 per cent of eligible voters in the region voted, a significant drop from 2018.

In Brussels and Wallonia, voting remained mandatory but many voters still abstained. Out of the Brussels municipalities, the lowest turnouts were in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (76.3 per cent), City of Brussels (76.9 per cent) and Anderlecht (77.3 per cent). The turnout was also low in Schaerbeek (78.5 per cent), Evere (79 per cent), Saint-Gilles (79.1 per cent) and Koekelberg (79.7 per cent).

The highest participation was in Auderghem (85 per cent), Watermael-Boitsfort (84.09 per cent) and Woluwe Saint Pierre (83.61 per cent). The overall average in the region was 80.59 per cent.

In Wallonia, where voting is also still compulsory, turnout was significantly higher at 87.7 per cent.

Last June, 1 million people across the country did not turn up to votein the federal and regional elections, out of a population of over 12 million, giving a national turnout of 87.42 per cent.

In the 2019 federal, regional and European elections, nearly 10 per cent of the country's population did not vote. Officially, people who do not attend a polling station risk a penalty of 40-80 euros, but in practice, fines are rarely issued.

^{A person votes at a polling station in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}