Elections 2024: Where do we stand, one month before

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. Today, 13 September, let’s look at how things stand.

-According to the latest count, mid-August, not many foreigners will participate. 135.037 non-Belgian EU citizens will vote, 16,3 per cent of those who could have participated. And only 13.636 non-EU citizens will vote, 11,9 per cent of those who could. Compared to 8.137.505 Belgian voters (although not all of those will vote).

-The organisation and the rules of the local elections are the competence of the regions, so things will not be exactly the same all over Belgium.

-In all regions however, the campaigns have started. Not all details of all lists are known, some candidates are still lacking, but the main players have taken their positions.

-The main themes are clear: mobility is high on the agenda, as is housing. Finances and local taxes are more in the background. The environment and migration are, as always, sensitive issues.

-What’s at stake for the political parties? In the southern part of Belgium, socialist PS and liberal MR will fight over which party will be the biggest. Green Ecolo wants to recover from its big loss at the regional and national elections in June, and Christian democrat Les Engagés wants to continue its rebirth.

In Flanders, extreme right Vlaams Belang hopes to become the biggest in some municipalities, so as to gain real power for the first time. Flemish nationalist N-VA hopes to maintain its leadership and Christian-democrat CD&V tries to hold on to its local leadership. Liberal Open VLD is looking for some hope after a major defeat in the June elections.

-And what about the media? On radio and TV, and in newspapers, there’s little about the October elections. That’s because journalists are still occupied with the June elections. There’s still no government in Brussels, Flanders and Belgium. Most likely this will not change soon, since all parties are not ready to compromise after 9 June in view of their campaign for 13 October.

_{#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE}