Parliamentary election in Belgium 2010
The election to the Belgian Chamber of Deputies was held on June 13, 2010, one year before the end of the legislative period . The early elections were preceded by a crisis in the governing coalition in which the Flemish liberal party OVLD announced its withdrawal from the government following internal disputes over a solution to the conflict over the bilingual Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency .
The Flemish Nationalist Party N-VA , led by Bart De Wever, was able to garner the most votes and entered the Belgian parliament with 27 members , closely followed by the French-speaking socialists of the PS with 26 members.
The lengthy and conflict-ridden government-building process that followed the election aggravated the Belgian state crisis. In the dispute over state reform in general and over the distribution of powers and money between the federal state and the regions and the financing of the capital in particular, several attempts to mediate failed. Since then, the Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme reigned as Executive Prime Minister until December 6, 2011.
Parties
More than 30 parties ran for the election of the Chamber of Deputies (“Chamber” for short), but none of them ran in both parts of Belgium ( Flanders and Wallonia ). Due to the nationality conflict, the entire party landscape along the Dutch-French language border has split up, so that Christian Democratic, liberal, socialist and green parties are running for candidates in Flanders and Wallonia, both in terms of program and organization.
In the Dutch-speaking north and the bilingual constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde , a. the following parties for election: the conservative Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie ( N-VA ) and the right-wing populist Vlaams Belang ( VB ), both of which are campaigning for the dissolution of Belgium and the independence of Flanders, the bourgeois-conservative Christian Democratisch en Vlaams ( CD&V ) , which entered into a list connection with the N-VA in the last parliamentary elections, the Flemish Socialists ( SP-A ), the left-wing liberal Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democrats ( Open VLD ) and the Green Party Groen! , and the right-wing liberal Lijst Dedecker chaired by Jean-Marie Dedecker .
The most important parties in the French-speaking South, on the other hand, include the Social Democratic Party of Wallonia ( PS ), the liberal Mouvement Réformateur ( MR ), the Francophone Christian Democrats ( CDH ), the eco-party Ecolo and the right-wing liberal Parti populaire ( PP ).
Polls
| Dutch language group | French language group | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| date | source | CD&V | N-VA | Open VLD | SPA | VB | Big ones! | LDD | PS | MR - FDF | CDH | Ecolo | FN | PP | RWF |
| March 29, 2010 | De Standaard | 20.0% | 17.8% | 13.8% | 15.5% | 17.3% | 8.1% | 5.5% | 31.7% | 20.5% | 15.5% | 20.2% | / | 4.3% | / |
| May 4, 2010 | L'Echo | 18.9% | 22.9% | 14.8% | 14.2% | 12.5% | 7.9% | 3.9% | 32.5% | 21.1% | 18.2% | 17.6% | 2.9% | <1% | 2.0% |
| May 26, 2010 | Dernière Heure | 19.5% | 26.0% | 12.4% | 16.0% | 10.3% | 7.8% | 5.4% | |||||||
| May 28, 2010 | Vers l'Avenir | 33.0% | 20.4% | 17.0% | 17.6% | 2.5% | 1.9% | 1.9% | |||||||
| June 4th 2010 | Standaard / VRT | 19.0% | 25.2% | 13.9% | 13.8% | 11.5% | 8.2% | 6.2% | / | ||||||
Results
Chamber (lower house)
With a comparatively high turnout of 94.1%, which is largely due to the Belgian compulsory voting, elected representatives from thirteen parties were elected to the Chamber of Deputies. The strongest party was the conservative Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA), which won over 17 percent of the vote and secured 27 seats in parliament. The Walloon Socialists (PS) had an almost as high number of MPs because of a favorable constituency division, despite the lower share of the vote. Compared to the 2007 parliamentary election, the PS was able to increase its share of the vote by 2.8 percentage points and the number of seats by six to a total of 26.
The third strongest force was the Flemish Christian Democrats of the CD&V with 10.8% and 17 seats, ahead of the francophone Mouvement Réformateur (MR) and the Flemish Socialists of the SP-A, who both received just under 9% of the vote. This was followed by the liberal Open VLD with 8.6%, which lost one of the previous ten seats in parliament. The right-wing populist party Vlaams Belang (VB) suffered an election defeat: It lost more than a third of its voters and five seats (2007: 17). The Christian Democratic Party of Wallonia (CDH) received 5.5%, the two green parties Ecolo and Groen! both just over 4% of the vote. The parties Lijst Dedecker (LDD) and Parti Populaire (PP) each provided one MP .
According to the Federal Public Service for "Home Affairs", the official final result is as follows:
| Eligible voters | 7,767,552 | ||||
| votes cast | 7,332,343 | 94.14% | |||
| valid votes | 6,527,367 | 89.02% | |||
| be right | proportion of | +/− to 2007 | Seats | +/− to 2007 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N-VA | 1,135,617 | 17.40% | - | 27 | +27 |
| PS | 894.543 | 13.70% | + 2.84% | 26th | +6 |
| CD&V | 707.986 | 10.85% | - | 17th | - |
 MR |
605.617 | 9.28% | −3.24% | 18th | −5 |
| SPA | 602,867 | 9.24% | - | 13 | - |
| Open VLD | 563,873 | 8.64% | −3.19% | 13 | −5 |
| VB | 506.697 | 7.76% | −4.23% | 12 | −5 |
| CDH | 360.441 | 5.52% | −0.53% | 9 | −1 |
| Ecolo | 313,047 | 4.80% | −0.31% | 8th | 0 |
| Big ones! | 285,989 | 4.38% | + 0.40% | 5 | +1 |
| LDD | 150,577 | 2.31% | −1.72% | 1 | −4 |
| PP | 84.005 | 1.29% | - | 1 | - |
| Others | 316.108 | 4.93% | |||
Linguistic differences
|
Result of the Dutch-language lists
% 30th 20th 10
0
28.2
17.6
15th
14th
12.6
7.1
3.7
1.7
Gains and losses
compared to
% p 30th 25th 20th 15th 10 5
0
-5 -10 -15 +28.2
-12.0
-1.3
-4.8
-6.4
+0.8
-2.8
-1.8
|
Senate (upper house)
In addition to the lower house deputies, 40 out of a total of 71 senators were directly elected. As in the European Parliament elections, the electorate was divided into two electoral colleges: the French-speaking college elected 15 senators and the Dutch-speaking 25 senators. In the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde special constituency, the citizens themselves decided which college to choose by choosing a French-speaking or Dutch-speaking party wanted to belong.
As in the case of the parliamentary elections, the Flemish N-VA was one of the biggest winners: Nine N-VA politicians moved into the Belgian Senate , while four seats each went to the CD&V and the SP-A. With a total of 14 senators (9 directly elected, 2 co-opted and 3 community senators), the N-VA became the strongest political force within the Dutch-speaking bloc and at the same time in the entire Belgian upper house.
The Social Democrats of the PS were able to win two more seats compared to the 2007 elections and thus secured 12 Senate seats through direct elections. The liberal MR lost a third of its direct election seats, while the francophone parties Ecolo and CDH retained their Senate posts despite a slight loss of votes.
| Eligible voters | 7,767,552 | ||||
| votes cast | 7,389,853 | 95.14% | |||
| valid votes | 6,469,103 | 87.54% | |||
| be right | proportion of | +/− to 2007 | Seats | +/− to 2007 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dutch Electoral College | |||||
| N-VA | 1,268,780 | 19.61% | - | 9 | - |
| CD&V | 646.375 | 9.99% | - | 4th | - |
| SPA | 613.079 | 9.48% | - | 4th | - |
| Open VLD | 533.124 | 8.24% | −4.16% | 4th | −1 |
| VB | 491,547 | 7.60% | −4.29% | 3 | −2 |
| Big ones! | 251,546 | 3.89% | + 0.25% | 1 | 0 |
| LDD | 130,779 | 2.02% | −1.36% | 0 | −1 |
| French electoral college | |||||
| PS | 880.828 | 13.62% | + 3.37% | 7th | +3 |
|
MR |
599,618 | 9.27% | −3.04% | 4th | −2 |
| Ecolo | 353.111 | 5.46% | −0.36% | 2 | 0 |
| CDH | 331.870 | 5.13% | −0.77% | 2 | 0 |
Results by electoral canton
Elections to the Chamber of Deputies have been held in 11 constituencies since 2003. The members of the 150-seat parliament, which is divided into two language groups ( Dutch and French ), are directly elected by the population of the individual constituencies. The following electoral map shows the eleven Belgian constituencies (thick line) and the parties with the highest number of votes in the individual electoral cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region , part of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency , has been enlarged:
Government formation
Informateur De Wever and pre-formateur Di Rupo
The great electoral success of a conservative-moderate, anti-Belgian party (N-VA) and the political stalemate that resulted from the 2010 Chamber of Deputies elections indicated that the formation of a government would be difficult and long. N-VA chairman De Wever, of no interest in the Prime Minister's Office or Government showed that he "wanted to reinforce structures he actually abolish intend" not by his own admission, was launched on 17 June by the Belgian King Albert II. As " Informateur " tasked with preparing coalition negotiations and thus paving the way for a new government. After a mediation commission lasting several weeks, he reported to Albert II in July, whereupon the latter named Di Rupo , the chairman of the PS , a “pre- formateur ” (pre-government builder ) and instructed him to sound out a possible coalition.
According to press releases, Di Rupo sought a coalition with the three largest parties on the Flemish side (N-VA, CD&V and SP-A) and eventually included the largest Belgian parties in the coalition concept in order to achieve a two-thirds majority. Former government builder Di Rupo met with representatives of various parties and sent interim reports to King Albert II, who extended his negotiating mission several times. After the political situation got bogged down, on the evening of August 29th, Di Rupo asked King Albert to relieve him of his beginning. However, King Albert declined the offer to resign and asked Di Rupo to continue negotiations.
At the beginning of September, representatives of the parties PS, N-VA, SP-A, CD&V, Groen, CDH and Ecolo met for negotiations in Brussels. The main points of contention in the negotiations included the distribution of powers and money between the federal state and the regions, as well as the financing of the capital. However, the parties could not agree on a compromise: While the N-VA announced that the compromise proposal last submitted by the Francophone Socialists (PS) was not acceptable, the N-VA and the Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V) were accused of the negotiations to block. Negotiator Di Rupo resigned his mandate on September 3rd.
Mediators Flahaut and Pieters
On Saturday (September 4th), the King instructed the Chairmen of the Chamber and Senate, André Flahaut (PS) and Danny Pieters (N-VA), to conduct explorations. The further course of action in the state crisis thus remained in the hands of the two strongest parties in Belgium. Flahaut and Pieters reopened talks with the seven parties previously involved, but continued to leave out the country's two liberal parties (MR and OVLD). After more than 110 days without an agreement, N-VA Chairman De Wever called on October 4 at a press conference to start negotiations again from scratch. He unilaterally declared the seven-party talks to form a new federal government to be over. The three francophone parties involved in the negotiations (PS, CDH and Ecolo) reacted with indignation to the advance. The two royal mediators, Flahaut and Pieters, submitted their final report on October 5th and were released from their exploratory mission.
Over the next few days, King Albert II received the chairmen of the seven negotiating parties and tried to get the stalled negotiations going again. On October 9th he asked De Wever to bring the negotiators back together.
In mid-October, De Wever presented a nearly 50-page compromise proposal, which provided for significantly greater tax autonomy for the states and a division of the electoral and judicial district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde . The Francophones, however, reacted by rejecting the proposal. Elio di Rupo strongly criticized the N-VA chairman and described the note as one-sided. He also said that their implementation would have fatal consequences for Wallonia and Brussels and would bleed the federal state financially.
Broker Vande Lanotte
After De Wever had submitted his final report, Albert the Second entrusted Johan Vande Lanotte with the mediation mission on October 21 . The SP-A parliamentary group leader should first restore confidence between the seven negotiating parties.
Vande Lanotte, whose designation as royal mediator initially aroused skepticism in the ranks of the N-VA, began a series of consultative talks and presented several interim reports on the state of government negotiations. Although the seven negotiating parties accepted his compromise proposals as a basis for discussion, Vande Lanotte was unable to achieve a decisive breakthrough in the government formation process. With Vande Lanotte's resignation on January 27, 2011, another attempt to form a new government in Belgium failed. According to media reports, all offers of negotiation to give the regions more powers did not go far enough for the Flemish.
After the seven negotiations with N-VA, PS, SP-A, CD&V, CDH, Ecolo and Groen did not lead to success, King Albert invited the liberal parties MR and Open VLD to consultations for the first time since June 2010 . These two parties had been left out of the negotiations for the past seven months since the parliamentary elections.
In view of the muddled domestic political situation, Di Rupo appealed to all democratic parties at the PS 's New Year's reception to jointly get a government in motion. The concept of such a “government of national unity” met with reluctance among the Flemish parties.
Reynders, Beke and again Di Rupo
Almost eight months after the parliamentary elections, the Belgian king opened a new chapter in the history of the formation of a government on February 2: With the appointment of the outgoing Mouvement Réformateur chairman Didier Reynders as an informateur, the initiative was supposed to pass to the Liberals for the first time. Among other things, Reynders brought in the proposal, which has been severely criticized by several parties, to expand the governing coalition government of the Christian Democrat Leterme to include the Flemish nationalists of the N-VA. After four weeks of negotiations, the liberal top politician asserted “a broad willingness to negotiate” among all interlocutors, but ultimately could not produce any tangible results.
After Reynders, Wouter Beke , chairman of the Flemish Christian Democrats ( CD&V ), was appointed to lead the negotiations. In contrast to his predecessors, Beke was not given a time frame for this. Beke's main task was to conduct negotiations on state reform. A compromise could not be found with the Flemish nationalist N-VA and the francophone Parti Socialiste.
After the completion of Beke's mediation mission, on March 17, 2011, the chairman of the PS, Elio Di Rupo, was again commissioned by Albert II to form a government. The talks with the N-VA about a state reform failed, but a total of eight parties agreed on the first reform steps on September 15, 2011, which include the division of the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency , which has been controversial for decades . Previously, the 15-month acting Prime Minister Yves Leterme announced his withdrawal from national politics, which accelerated Di Rupo's efforts to form a new government. 535 days after the election, on November 30, 2011 an alliance of six parties - Walloon Socialists (PS), Flemish Socialists (SP-A), Walloon Liberals (MR), Flemish Left Liberals (Open VLD), Walloon Christian Democrats (CDH) and achieved Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V) - an agreement in principle on a coalition government. Elio di Rupo was finally appointed as the new Prime Minister on December 6, 2011.
Individual evidence
- ^ Parliamentary elections in Belgium - A Flemish lion in the stars and stripes . FAZ.de; Retrieved June 23, 2010.
- ↑ Information from the Belgian Federal Public Service for Home Affairs. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- ^ A b Claus Hecking: The Belgian political system . Verlag Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2003, p. 117.
- ↑ N-VA tweede largest in peiling La Libre-RTL . De Standaard , March 28, 2010 (Dutch).
- ^ Elections: Vers l'Avenir polls N-VA first in Flanders . L'Echo, May 4, 2010 (French).
- ^ Sondage: La N-VA à 26%, premier parti en Flandre . La Dernière Heure, May 27, 2010 (French).
- ↑ TNS-Media / Dimarso poll ordered by De Standaard and VRT . De Standaard , June 4, 2010 (Dutch).
- ↑ Information from the Directorate-General “Institutions and Population” , accessed on June 23, 2010.
- ^ Elections in Belgium: Flemish top candidate wants to split the country . Spiegel Online ; Retrieved January 9, 2011.
- ^ Nationalist leader De Wever is supposed to sound out coalitions in Belgium . Stern.de ; Retrieved June 23, 2010.
- ^ Belgium: Di Rupo should sound out a new coalition . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Wort.lu ; Retrieved July 18, 2010.
- ↑ Socialist should try to form a government . ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. derstandard.at ; Retrieved July 18, 2010.
- ↑ Formation of a government: King calls on Di Rupo to continue . BRF online ; Retrieved January 16, 2011.
- ↑ Elio Di Rupo throws in the towel . Flandersinfo.be; Retrieved January 16, 2011.
- ↑ De Wever wants to bring negotiations back to zero . BRF online ; Retrieved January 16, 2011.
- ↑ Full throttle into the dead end: De Wever's mission failed . BRF online ; Retrieved January 25, 2011.
- ↑ Brussels protest calls for Belgian unity government . In: The Guardian ; Retrieved January 23, 2011.
- ^ Difficult formation of a government in Belgium: The king's mediator gives up. In: Tagesschau.de. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011 ; Retrieved December 20, 2013 .
- ^ Belgium: The political crisis continues to worsen . Focus Online ; Retrieved January 30, 2011.
- ↑ Negotiations - Chief mediator sees movement in Belgium's state crisis . Spiegel Online ; Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ Informateur Didier Reynders with the king . BRF online ; Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ New mediator in the Belgian state crisis . In: The world .
- ↑ "Everyone must go further than ever before" . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Flandersinfo.be ; Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ↑ Historic agreement at the negotiating table: BHV is divided . BRF online ; Retrieved September 15, 2011.
- ↑ Leterme leaves politics - no later than December 31st . BRF online ; Retrieved September 14, 2011.
- ↑ 541 days later - Belgium has a government . ( Memento from December 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau.de ; Retrieved December 6, 2011.
