Elections 2024: MR and PS are fiercer enemies than ever before

In French-speaking Belgium, the two main parties are liberals MR and socialists PS. PS used to be the biggest party, but at the national and regional elections of 9 June, MR largely overtook them. It now wants to finish the job at the local level.

MR has 102 mayors in Wallonia, against 78 for PS. But all the MR mayors are in small municipalities, while PS is by far the strongest in cities. In Brussels, PS has six mayors, against MR’s two.

Georges-Louis Bouchez, the ambitious leader of MR, wants to break the power of PS at the local level, after ousting the socialists from the federal and regional governments. PS president Paul Magnette, meanwhile, wants to turn the page and start the reconstruction after the heavy defeat of PS on 9 June.

PS and MR have always been each other’s main competitors, but since Bouchez became leader, they have become enemies too. He is not only ambitious but also merciless in his aim is to make his party the biggest. MR was in the federal government in recent years but was seen as unloyal by the coalition partners as Bouchez blocked agreements in a provocative style. PS hated it, but on 9 June, MR was rewarded by many voters.

The enmity between MR and PS should, however, be taken with a pinch of salt. In Belgium, it has become tradition that the two biggest parties in a given constituency drive up the rivalry. They paint one another as evil and incite voters to choose between “good” and “evil”. Smaller parties become less relevant as a result, with votes only going to one of the two main parties.

So, MR and PS are not only each other’s fiercest enemy, this electoral strategy means they are also their “best” enemy.

Local elections will take place at municipal and provincial levels in Belgium on Sunday 13 October. In the run-up to the vote, Belga English explores the main issues to watch out for and provides a daily overview of events.

_{Georges-Louis Bouchez (l) and Paul Magnette | © BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT} ​