Elections 2024: Two regions and four cities to watch Sunday evening

Sunday morning, Belgian voters will elect the councils for 581 municipalities and 10 provinces. Most results are only interesting for the local people, but in a couple of places, the consequences are much broader and important.

-Brussels region: The Brussels region consists of 19 municipalities, and in all of them mobility is a very divisive topic. At the 9 June elections, several political parties were severely punished or rewarded for the stand they took on Good Move, the regional plan to push back the use of cars. Mobility is an important topic all over Belgium, and controversial, but nowhere as much as in Brussels. These local elections must show how far citizens want to change their habits. The battle between cars and bicycles is on.

-Flanders region: In Belgium, people have been obliged to vote, for every election. These local elections are different, in Flanders. Many arguments in favour and against compulsory voting have been cited, but the big question is: what will be the effect? How many people will remain absent, already this time? Do people know they’re no longer obliged, and how much do they care about their local politics?

-Ninove: A small city in the centre of Flanders could draw a lot of attention. Extreme-right Vlaams Belang is a large political party in Flanders, some of the time even very large. But it has never been big enough to come into power. Other parties have always been able to exclude them from coalitions and they intend to keep it that way. However, in Ninove, it’s possible that the local VB-list, called Forza Ninove, reaches an absolute majority on its own.

-Antwerp: Flanders not only has a big extreme right party, but for a couple of years, the extreme left also can’t be neglected anymore. In the city of Antwerp, the very popular mayor Bart De Wever (right wing Flemish nationalist N-VA) feels the heat from Jos D’Haese, a prominent member of PVDA (a party that used to call itself Marxist, but remains silent on this point now). D’Haese is very popular amongst young people and the migrant population. De Wever says it’s no coincidence D’Haese got to that popularity through TikTok, the Chinese app, where he gained a lot of followers in no time. PVDA has always been supportive of the regime in Beijing.

-Mons: The 9 June elections saw a major shift in the south of Belgium. Liberal MR became the biggest party, to the detriment of socialist PS. MR now wants to break the power of PS in the big cities in Wallonia, which are the base of PS. Mons is the focal point of this competition since the MR candidate for mayor there is the super-ambitious MR president, Georges-Louis Bouchez, who is seen as the architect of the 9 June victory. If he succeeds, he’ll be the undisputed leader of the francophones, if he fails, his competitors will rejoice loudly.

-Genk: The elections in Genk, a city in the east of Flanders, could affect the brand new Flemish government. The N-VA-candidate in Genk is Zuhal Demir. She pushed very hard to get the job of minister of education in the government-Diependaele two weeks ago, but four days after being appointed, she said she would leave that job if she could become mayor of Genk. This didn’t improve her popularity amongst teachers.

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 an overview of events.

_{#FlandersNewsService | ​ How many people will turn up in Flanders, now they don’t have to? © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}