The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2018 took place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions: Brussels with 19 municipalities Flanders with 5 provinces and 300 (down from 308) municipalities In the city of Antwerp, elections will also be held for its nine districts Wallonia with 5 provinces and 262 municipalities In the German-speaking Community, the elections are organised by that community rather than the Walloon Region
In the municipalities with language facilities of Voeren, Comines-Warneton and the 6 of the Brussels Periphery, the aldermen and members of the OCMW/CPAS council are directly elected.
General Although the laws governing local elections differ per region (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) and per level (provinces, municipalities, districts and OCMW/CPAS), they are all similar, with all of the elections being held on the same second Sunday of October for a six-year term.
Between the 2012 and 2018 local elections, elections were only held in May 2014 (European, federal and regional), giving an unusually long period without elections in Belgium. The next European, federal and regional elections will be held in May 2019, only a few months after the October 2018 local elections.
Parties
National political parties are mostly separated by language community. A lot of municipalities have local parties as well as a presence of national parties. Here are the most important national parties: Dutch-speaking parties, generally contending in Flanders and Brussels: N-VA (nationalist), CD&V (Christian democrats), sp.a (socialists), Open VLD (liberals), Groen (ecologists), Vlaams Belang (far-right), PVDA (Marxist) French-speaking parties, generally contending in Wallonia and Brussels: PS (socialists), MR (liberals), DéFI (regionalists/liberals), CdH (Christian democrats), Ecolo (ecologists), PTB (Marxist) German-speaking parties, generally contending in several German-speaking municipalities in Wallonia
Voters All Belgian citizens aged 18 or over are automatically registered and are obliged to participate in the election. Foreigners, both EU and non-EU, have the right to register to vote.
The number of voters is as follows as of 1 August 2018:
Belgians EU citizens Non-EU citizens Total Registered % of potential Registered % of potential Brussels 585,922 37,232 16.75% of 222,242 12,174 19.27% of 63,171 635,328 Flanders 4,831,922 33,663 11.58% of 290,674 8,092 10.25% of 85,162 4,873,677 Wallonia (without GC) 2,508,440 57,955 25.88% of 223,938 9,263 20.47% of 45,253 2,575,658 German-speaking Community 49,374 1,709 14.97% of 11,413 28 2.78% of 1,007 51,111 Total for Belgium 7,975,658 130,559 17.45% of 748,267 29,557 15.19% of 194,593 8,135,774
Brussels The municipal councils in the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region were elected. These municipalities do not belong to any province.
Since 2014, the regional electoral legislation has been modified to forbid lists with only one candidate, officially to enforce the sex parity principle, officiously to evict lists from an Islamist party.Ordonnance assurant la présence minimum de deux candidats sur une liste se présentant aux élections communales, Moniteur belge, 3 April 2014Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-capitale, Compte rendu intégral, Séance plénière du vendredi 28 mars 2014 (séance du matin) This 'ISLAM' party's leader had announced in April that it would present lists in 14 out of 19 communes.François Witvrouw, "Le parti Islam sur les listes électorales de 14 des 19 communes bruxelloises", L'Echo, 6 April 2018 Finally, there are only two, in Brussels and Molenbeek. A third one in Anderlecht, headed by the aforementioned leader who had been elected in 2012, was invalidated because it hadn't been able to collect 100 signatures for its act of presentation. In April and begin September several politicians, amidst big media interest for this minuscule party (2 councillors, less than 10 members), had announced they would submit a law proposal to forbid it as its leader had multiplied controversial attitudes towards women and announcements that he aimed to introduce sharia in Belgium.
The definitive candidates lists have been published online on 21 September 2018, there are 4,104 candidates on 152 lists, they were 3,965 in 2012.Official lists of candidates in the Brussels-Capital Region, 21 September 2018
Brussels Following the 2012 election, Freddy Thielemans (PS) continued as mayor, heading a coalition of socialists (PS-sp.a) and liberals (MR-Open Vld). In December 2013, Thielemans retired and was succeeded by Yvan Mayeur (PS). In 2017, a scandal emerged surrounding Samusocial, an organisation for homeless people where board members received excessive compensations for supposed meetings. Mayeur was forced to resign and was succeeded by Philippe Close (PS). The coalition was no longer supported by sp.a, and sp.a alderwoman Ans Persoons quit. Persoons and sp.a will contend the election on their own as Change.Brussels.
An October 2017 poll showed the Green parties surpassing the socialists as largest party.
In 2018, new financial-political scandals emerged regarding at least three organisations (Gial, Brinfin and Neo) where people were reimbursed as self-employed where they should have been actually employed.
A debate among the main Dutch-speaking candidates was held on 4 September.
Brussels is the only Belgian commune where two Islamic parties contend this election, Islam and its splinter party Salem, the first with two candidates (a father and his daughter), the second with three. Islam had 2 councillors in 2012, one in Anderlecht, the other in Molenbeek, both elected on one-person lists. The third list, in Brussels, failed to get a councillor elected in 2012. This time, the party has only been able to present lists of two candidates in Molenbeek and Brussels. There is a third Islamic party, limited to the province of Liège, the Movement for Education (MPE), which presents lists in three communes, Liège, Dison and Fléron, two one-candidate lists and one three-candidates list.
Opinion polling:
Date(s) conducted Polling firm Newspaper Sample size PS MR-Open Vld cdH-CD&V Ecolo-Groen DéFI N-VA Vlaams Belang PTB/PVDA sp.a Others Lead Lead April 2018 iVox La Capitale ? 17.4% 18.4% 12.7% 19.7% 13.4% 4.5% 6.4% 0.0% 7.5% 1.3% 35.8% 56.7% 20.9% October 2017 iVox RTL / SudInfo ? 14.2% 15.8% 13.8% 20.9% 11.7% 5.1% 11.4% 0.8% 6.3% 5.1% 30.0% 63.7% 33.7% 14 October 2012 Local elections 29.1% 17.9% 18.0% 12.4% 7.6% 4.3% 2.2% 1.6% 6.9% 11.1% 47.0% 46.1% 0.9%
Schaerbeek In 1994, a new coalition took power in Schaerbeek against the former Liberal (PRL) majority that had backed far right mayor . This coalition included former 'Nolsists', under the leadership of incumbent mayor Francis Duriau, the FDF of Bernard Clerfayt, Ecolo, the PSC and the PS (the Flemish SP competed apart, on a common list with a small local movement, IDS). The coalition was renewed in 2000, without the PSC but with the MR which competed under the Liste du Bourgmestre (Mayor's List) flag, uniting the former PRL and the FDF. In 2006, the coalition excluded the PS, which had among its councillors a controversial Turkish member of the Grey Wolves. This provoked the exclusion of Ecolo by the PS in the ruling coalitions e.g. in Brussels and Molenbeek. In 2012, the PS was maintained in the opposition, while the CDH (4 seats) entered it with 2 aldermen, and the local MR chapter broke up as the federal party forbade any common list with its former FDF partner, but a majority of the local chapter chose to go forward with the (predominantly FDF) Mayor's List as 'Independent Liberals'.
The situation before the 2018 elections is quite different from the two previous ones. In 2006 and 2012, federal Vice-Premier Laurette Onkelinx led the PS list against the Mayor's List, overtly hoping to supersede it and take the mayorship. In both elections, the Ecolo list was led by a former federal leader, Isabelle Durant, who chose to keep its alliance with FDF Bernard Clerfayt. In 2017, both Durant and Onkelinx resigned from the municipal council and there are no notorious followers in sight.Belga, "Laurette Onkelinx quitte le conseil communal de Schaerbeek", Le Soir, 25 October 2017Jean-Claude Verset, "Isabelle Durant: "C'est le problème des partis qui occupent trop longtemps le pouvoir"", RTBF Info, 16 June 2017 PS federal deputy Ahmed Laaouej declined the offer to move from Koekelberg to Schaerbeek to replace her.Karim Fadoul, "Ahmed Laaouej à Schaerbeek: un signe de plus ou un signe de moins", RTBF Info, 27 October 2016"Le député fédéral Ahmed Laaouej conduira la liste PS à Koekelberg", La Libre Belgique, 8 June 2017 In 2015, the CDH fraction was halved with the exclusion of Regional deputy Mahinur Özdemir, officially for refusing to recognize the existence of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Another Turkish CDH councillor left the CDH group after this exclusion.Belga, "M. Ozdemir exclue du cdH: Le conseiller schaerbeekois Seydi Sag prend ses distances avec le parti", La Libre Belgique, 23 June 2015
Apart from the New Flemish Alliance and the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) lists, Flemish parties have common lists with their Francophone counterpart: PS-SP.A, CDH-CD&V, Ecolo-Groen. The Open VLD, whose only councillor sits within the majority, has decided to join the Liste du Bourgmestre (Mayor's List), which includes DéFI (new name of the FDF) candidates, including the mayor himself, and former MR.Karim Fadoul, "Schaerbeek: le MR ne se présentera pas sur la Liste du Bourgmestre Bernard Clerfayt", RTBF Info, 19 January 2018
Opinion polling:
Date(s) conducted Polling firm Newspaper Sample size LB PS-sp.a Ecolo-Groen MR-Open Vld cdH-CD&V PTB/PVDA N-VA Others Lead Lead April 2018 iVox RTL / SudInfo ? 35.1% 15.2% 15.2% 9.5% 6.0% 12.7% ? 6.3% 19.9% 65.8% 27.9% 37.9% 29 September - 4 October 2017 iVox RTL / SudInfo ? 35.8% 13.5% 16.1% 9.8% 6.4% 12.2% ? 6.2% 19.7% 68.1% 25.7% 42.4% 14 October 2012 Local elections 32.7% 25.1% 13.4% 9.6% 9.1% 3.4% 2.2% 4.6% 7.6% 64.8% 30.7% 34.1%
Other municipalities Ganshoren: Pierre Kompany, the father of Vincent Kompany, becomes the first black mayor in Belgium. Forest/Vorst: Stéphane Roberti (Ecolo) becomes mayor, succeeding Marc-Jean Ghyssels (PS).
Flanders Procedures and changes In Flanders, the elections are mainly regulated by the Local and Provincial Electoral Act of 8 July 2011. Below are a few key dates set out in the Act applied to these elections:
Deadline Subject Statutory provision By 1 June 2018 Determination by the Flemish Government of the numbers of municipal, district and provincial councillors to be elected, based on population figures as of 1 January 2018 Article 7 1 July 2018 Start of the "waiting period" (sperperiode) running until the day of the election, during which political propaganda and expenses are strictly regulated Article 2 By 31 August 2018 Determination of the electoral roll by the municipal college of mayor and aldermen, based on the situation as of 1 August Article 16 By the 15th day before election (29 September 2018) Sending out of the convocation letter by the municipal college to all voters Article 52 Second Sunday of October (14 October 2018) Polling day (between 8am and 1pm); counting of votes starts no later than 2pm Article 6, 134 and 150 The first working day of December (3 December 2018) at 10am Constitutive meeting of the provincial councils Article 7 (Provincial Act) The first working day of January (2 January 2019) at 8pm (default) Constitutive meeting of the municipal and district councils (the outgoing council chairman can determine a different day and time) Article 6 (Local Govt. Act)