Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region

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Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale
Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest
logo Parliament building
logo Parliament building
Basic data
Seat: Brussels
Legislative period : five years
MPs: 72 French language group
17 Dutch language group
Current legislative period
Last choice: May 26, 2019
Chair: Rachid Madrane ( PS )
16
15th
10
4th
3
3
1
13
1
11
1
6th
1
3
1
16 15th 10 4th 3 3 1 13 1 11 1 6th 1 3 1 
Distribution of seats: Government (51)
  • PS 16
  • Ecolo 15
  • DéFI 10
  • Big 4
  • Open Vld 3
  • one.brussels-sp.a 3
    • Opposition (38)
  • MR 13
  • PVDA-PTB 11
  • cdH 6
  • N-VA 3
  • Vlaams Belang 1
  • CD&V 1
  • DierAnimal 1
  • Agora 1
  • Independent 1
    		•
    Website
    www.parlement.brussels

    The parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region (or "Brussels Parliament"; formerly "Council of the Brussels-Capital Region"), French Parlement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale , Dutch Parlement van het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest , is composed of 89 regional members. The President of Parliament is Rachid Madrane ( PS ).

    The regional deputies are directly elected by the population for 5 years in a single constituency that extends over the nineteen municipalities. All Belgian citizens who are domiciled in the Brussels-Capital Region and have reached the age of 18 are eligible to vote. In order to stand for election to the regional parliament, one must meet the same conditions. The electoral lists are monolingual, i. H. either French or Dutch speaking. The language of the electoral list on which a person wishes to stand must be the same as the language in which the candidate's identity card was issued. All lists are presented to the voter at the election and he can freely and secretly decide whether he wants to vote for a French or Dutch-language list. The last elections took place on May 26, 2019.

    There are two language groups within the parliament, namely the French language group (currently 72 seats) and the Dutch language group (currently 17 seats). MEPs are assigned to one or the other language group depending on the language of the electoral list on which they stood. The division into language groups has certain consequences for the internal organization of Parliament (representation in the committees, ...). In order to prevent conflicts between the language groups, there is the possibility of the "alarm bell", which suspends the parliamentary procedure at the request of a three-quarters majority within a language group and instructs the regional government to find a solution within 30 days.

    Belonging to one or the other language group also has an impact on the representation of Brussels MEPs in the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium and in the Flemish Parliament . The representatives of these two communities are actually not directly elected by the population, but are made up of all Walloon or Flemish regional members on the one hand, and certain members of the Brussels Parliament of the French or (possibly) the Dutch language group on the other. In addition to the 75 Walloon regional MPs, there are also 19 Brussels MPs in the French Community Parliament, who are determined by the French language group of the Brussels Parliament. Different rules have been in force for the Flemish Parliament since 2001, as it is made up of 118 directly elected Flemish regional members and 6 members who “ must be domiciled in the Brussels-Capital Region and who are elected directly in this capacity […] were ". So these six MEPs do not necessarily belong to the Brussels-Capital Region Parliament. Furthermore, there is only one parliament for the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region in Flanders. This means that the six MEPs in question are not entitled to vote when the Flemish Parliament deals with purely regional competences. Since both the French and the Flemish Communities have “constitutive autonomy”, they are empowered to change the composition of their parliaments by means of a special decree (two-thirds majority); in these cases, however, the ratio 19/75 or 6/118 must always be maintained as the parliamentary representation of the Brussels-Capital Region.

    The legislative decisions of the parliament are called "Ordonnances". Even if ordinances have in principle the same legislative value as a federal law or a decree of the other communities and regions, they differ in one particular point from them: they are subject to the control of the ordinary courts and tribunals that enforce the application of an ordinance can refuse if it violates the provisions of the special law on the Brussels institutions. Normally, this power of the judicial power is limited only to decrees and orders (of the executive branch). The ordinary courts and tribunals control the constitutionality of the ordinances "parallel" to the Constitutional Court , which can annul all laws, decrees and ordinances because they are unconstitutional .

    Composition of Parliament 2019

    French
    language group     		Dutch
    language group
    Political party Seats Political party Seats
    • PS 16 seats • Great 4 seats
    • Ecolo 15 seats N-VA 3 seats
    MR 13 seats • OpenVLD 3 seats
    • DéFI 10 seats • one.brussels-sp.a 3 seats
    PVDA-PTB 10 seats Vlaams Belang 1 seat
    cdH 6 seats CD&V 1 seat
    DierAnimal 1 seat Agora 1 seat
    Independent 1 seat PVDA-PTB 1 seat
    total 72 seats total 17 seats
    Total: 89 seats
    Government parties are marked with a dot (•)

    Election of the Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region 2019

    Political party be right Seats
    number in % +/- number +/-%
    French language group
    PS 85,530 22.03   4.56 17th   4
    Ecolo 74,246 19.12   9.01 15th   7
    MR 65.502 16.87   6.17 13   5
    DéFI 53,638 13.81   0.99 10   2
    PTB 52.297 13.47   9.61 10   6
    cdH 29,436 7.58   4.16 6th   3
    Destexhe 10,052 2.59 New 0 New
    Parti Populaire 6,605 1.70   0.24 0  
    DierAnimal 5.113 1.32 New 1 New
    Others 5,859 1.51 0  
    total 388.278 100.00 72  
    Dutch language group
    Great 14,425 20.61   2.72 4th   1
    N-VA 12,578 17.97   0.97 3  
    Open Vld 11.051 15.79   10.91 3   2
    one.brussels-sp.a 10,540 15.06   4.51 3  
    Vlaams Belang 5,838 8.34   2.74 1  
    CD&V 5,231 7.47   3.96 1   1
    Agora 3,629 5.18 New 1 New
    Be.One 3,021 4.32 New 0 New
    PVDA 2,992 4.27 New 1 New
    DierAnimal 691 0.99 New 0 New
    total 69.996 100.00 17th  
    Valid votes 458.274 93.35
    Invalid votes 32,643 6.65
    Votes cast 490.917 100.00 - 89  
    Number of eligible voters
    and turnout     		588.203 83.46
    Source: elections2019.belgium.be: Parliament of The Brussels-Capital Region

    Web links

    Commons : Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ The word “eligible to vote” can be misleading as in Belgium voting is actually compulsory.
    2. ↑ Article 31 of the special law of January 12, 1989 on the Brussels institutions
    3. ↑ This is traditionally done according to the so-called "D'Hondt distribution key", which ensures proportional representation of all parties represented in the Brussels Parliament.
    4. ↑ Art. 24, § 1, 2 ° of the special law of 8 August 1980 on institutional reforms
    5. ↑ Art. 24, Section 1, Paragraph 4 and Section 3, Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Special Act of August 8, 1980
    6. ↑ Art. 9, para. 1 of the special law of January 12, 1989 on the Brussels institutions
    7. ^ Article 159 of the Constitution