2012 Belgian local elections: Difference between revisions

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The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2012 took place on 14 October. As with the previous 2006 elections, these are no longer organised by the Belgian federal state but instead by the respective regions:

Brussels with 19 municipalities
Flanders with 5 provinces and 308 municipalities
- In the city of Antwerp, elections were also held for its districts
Wallonia with 5 provinces and 262 municipalities

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.^[1]

Mayors are not directly elected, instead the respective regional government (of Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) appoint one of the elected municipal councillors. The councillors usually propose a candidate.

The result in Wallonia was largely a continuation of the major parties, without any big power shifts. In Flanders however, the nationalist party N-VA, which won in previous regional and federal elections, continued their success and became (one of) the largest party in many municipalities and the largest in three out of five provinces.

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, 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, generally contending in Wallonia and Brussels: PS (socialists), MR (liberals), FDF (liberals), CdH (Christian-democrats), Ecolo (ecologists), FN (far-right), PTB (marxist)
German-speaking, generally contending in several German-speaking municipalities in Wallonia

Brussels

The Brussels-Capital Region is made up of 19 municipalities (of which one is the city of Brussels) which are not part of any province.

In these municipalities, French-speaking parties are usually the largest ones, mostly PS and MR. FDF, previously forming a cartel with MR and also strong in Brussels municipalities, will now contend on its own, but dissidents from both former partners are contending on the other party's list, particularly in the municipalities where they are currently part of the majority coalition.

Dutch-speaking parties will in some municipalities form a cartel either with their French counterpart or in a larger "Mayor's List", as is the case this time between Ecolo and Groen! in all 19 municipalities, and with PS and SP.A in 17 out of 19. The only Dutch-speaking list with support from most Dutch-speaking parties is Samen (CD&V, Open VLD, SP.A and independents) in Auderghem. N-VA announced it will contend on its own in at least 10 out of the 19 municipalities.^[2] 78 Dutch-speaking Dutch-speaking candidates were elected this time in the municipal councils.

Results

Results are available via http://bruxelleselections2012.irisnet.be/

Municipality	Total seats	CDH- CD&V	Ecolo- Green	LB	MR- Open VLD	PS- sp.a	Flemish Interest	N-VA	Other
Anderlecht	47	*	5	14		*	1		21 (PS-SP.A-CDH)
Brussels	49	10	7		10	18	-	1	1 (FDF)
Elsene	43
Etterbeek	35
Evere	33	3	4	16	6	*	-	1	4 (FDF)
Ganshoren	27
Jette	35
Koekelberg	27	-	3	16	-	8	-	-	-
Oudergem	29	1	4	23		2	-	-	1
Schaarbeek	47	4	7	18	4	13	-	-	1
Sint-Agatha-Berchem	27
Sint-Gillis	35	2	8	19	6	-	-	-	-
Sint-Jans-Molenbeek	43	6	4	16	15	-	-	1	3
Sint-Joost-ten-Node	29
Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe	37
Sint-Pieters-Woluwe	33	-	3	14	-	1	-	-	15
Ukkel	41	3	7	-	21	5	-	-	5 (FDF)
Vorst	37	3	7	-	10	14	-	-	3 (FDF)
Watermaal-Bosvoorde	27	-	7	10	3	2	-	-	-

Flanders

The nationalist party N-VA became the largest party in the 2010 federal election. It was expected that the party would now achieve a number of seats in many Flemish municipalities, which was indeed the case. Local lists include cartels between two parties and independents, varying from one municipality to another, e.g. SP.A and CD&V in the city of Antwerp, but SP.A and Groen! in the districts of Antwerp and in Ghent, Open VLD and Groen! (and a splinter group from the CD&V) in Mechelen.

General trends

Parties on the right, CD&V, Open VLD and Vlaams Belang, generally lose votes in previous elections whereas N-VA has grown a lot.

The socialist party SP.A is especially successful in large cities, but has slightly been losing votes in previous elections too.

The green party Groen remains stable with a relatively low percentage of votes.

Results are available via http://vlaanderenkiest.be/verkiezingen2012/

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders and Limburg were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced.

In East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and especially Antwerp, N-VA became the largest party in the province, followed by CD&V. In Limburg and West Flanders, CD&V remained the biggest party followed by N-VA.

Province	Total seats	CD&V	Vlaams Belang	Groen	N-VA	Open VLD	PVDA+	SP.A	UF
Antwerp	72 ( 12)	16.8 (13)	10.8 (7)	9.3 (6)	35.9 (27)	10.1 (7)	3.4 (2)	12.8 (10)	—
East Flanders	72 ( 12)	19.8 (15)	9.3 (6)	9 (6)	26.1 (21)	19.3 (15)	1.7 (0)	12.7 (9)	—
Flemish Brabant	72 ( 12)	19.5 (15)	6.7 (5)	9.6 (7)	25.8 (19)	16.8 (13)	1.2 (0)	12.1 (8)	7.1 (5)
Limburg	63 ( 12)	27.5 (18)	9.1 (6)	†	26.1 (17)	14.1 (9)	2.2 (0)	20.1 (13)†	—
West Flanders	72 ( 12)	27.6 (21)	7.7 (5)	7.5 (4)	25.3 (20)	13.4 (10)	1.3 (0)	15.8 (12)	—
Total	351 ( 60)

Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t Template:BE party c/t

Party		Votes	%	+/– (2006)	Seats	+/– (2006)
New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)	1,165,938	28.5	*	104	*
Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)	877,019	21.5	*	82	*
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)	595,932	14.6	4.4	54
Socialist Party–Different (SP.A)	580,078	11.5	7.7	51†
Flemish Interest (VB)	365,439	8.9	12.6	29
Green	314,538	7.7	0.1	24†
Union des Francophones (UF)	48,920	1.2		5	1
	Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA+)	84,037	2.1	2.1	2	2
	Other parties	55,284	1.4		—
Valid votes		4,087,185
Invalid votes
Blanco votes
Total					351

† In Limburg: coalition SP.A - Groen. Only one of the 13 elected candidates (Hassan Amaghlaou) is a member of Groen.

Municipal elections

A lot of attention goes to the city of Antwerp, where Bart De Wever, the president of N-VA, wants to become mayor and put an end to decades of socialist mayors, the current one being Patrick Janssens (sp.a). Christian-democrat CD&V and socialist sp.a will form one list. Also Wouter Van Besien (president of Groen) is contending for the position of mayor, and Filip Dewinter of extreme-right Vlaams Belang is campaigning in Antwerp. According to a poll, N-VA would get 42,9% of the votes, giving 26 out of 55 seats in the municipal party, and 46,5% would like to see De Wever become the new mayor.^[3]

In Ghent, the incumbent mayor Daniël Termont is very popular. SP.A, his party, now formed a cartel with Groen. Polls predict the cartel will get about 43% of the votes. The parties Open VLD of nl [Mathias De Clercq] and N-VA of Siegfried Bracke follow after a gap.^[4]

Leuven has a similar situation where polls indicate that SP.A, the party of incumbent mayor Louis Tobback, would still be the largest. N-VA, CD&V and Groen follow after a gap.^[5]

Antwerp

The outgoing coalition led by mayor Patrick Janssens (sp.a) was replaced by a coalition led by Bart De Wever (N-VA).

Antwerp City Council election, 2012
	Main candidate	Votes	%	±%
N-VA	Bart De Wever (23 seats won)	102,795	37.7%
sp.a-CD&V joint list	Patrick Janssens (17 seats won)	77,867	28.6%
Flemish Interest	Filip Dewinter (5 seats won)	27,824	10.2%
PVDA-PTB	Peter Mertens (4 seats won)	21,720	8.0%	+6.2
Groen	Meyrem Almaci (4 seats won)	21,658	7.9%	+3.2
Open Vld	Annemie Turtelboom (2 seats won)	15,098	5.5%
Other	(no seats won)	5,473	2.0%

Bruges

In Bruges, the incumbent mayor nl [Patrick Moenaert] (CD&V), who led a coalition of CD&V/N-VA, SP.A and VLD (which were all represented parties except Groen and VB), quit so all possibilities remained open. Polls gave CD&V, SP.A and N-VA as major parties.^[6]

Bruges City Council election, 2012
Party		Main candidate	Votes	%	±%

Gent

The outgoing coalition led by mayor Daniël Termont (sp.a) was re-elected.

Ghent City Council election, 2012
	Main candidate	Votes	%	±%
sp.a-Groen	Daniël Termont (25 seats won)	69,356	45.5%
N-VA	Siegfried Bracke (9 seats won)	26,064	17.1%
Open Vld	Mathias De Clercq (9 seats won)	25,167	16.5%
CD&V	Veli Yüksel (4 seats won)	13,834	9.1%
Flemish Interest	Johan Deckmyn (3 seats won)	9,966	6.5%	–11.5
PVDA-PTB	Tom De Meester (no seats won)	4,431	2.9%	+1.9
Other	(no seats won)	3,694	2.4%

Hasselt

Hasselt City Council election, 2012
Party		Main candidate	Votes	%	±%

Leuven

Leuven City Council election, 2012
Party		Main candidate	Votes	%	±%

Mechelen

Mechelen City Council election, 2012
	Main candidate	Votes	%
vld-Groen-m+	Bart Somers (16 seats won)	17,900	33.9%
N-VA	Marc Hendrickx (11 seats won)	12,244	23.2%
sp.a	Caroline Gennez (8 seats won)	9,610	18.2%
CD&V	Walter Schroons (5 seats won)	6,524	12.4%
Flemish Interest	Frank Creyelman (3 seats won)	4,589	8.7%
PVDA-PTB	Dirk Tuypens (no seats won)	1,610	3%
Bewoners Partij	Jan Mussin (no seats won)	328	0.6%

Wallonia

PS and MR are generally the two largest parties, followed by Ecolo and CDH. In the province of Luxembourg, CDH is generally more successful. No major trends or shifts were expected nor happened.

Results are available via http://elections2012.wallonie.be/results/fr/

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Namur, Walloon Brabant, Liège, Hainaut and Luxembourg were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced.

Province	Total seats	CDH		CSP		Ecolo		FDF		MR		PFF-MR		PS		PTB+		SP
Hainaut	56 ( 28)	14.39%	6 ( 9)	—		10.88%	4 ( 1)	2.3%	0	23.17%	16 ( 7)	—		39.68%	30 ( 8)	2.5%	0	—
Liège	56 ( 28)	13.76%	7 ( 6)	1.72%	1 ( 1)	14.76%	8 ( 3)	1.7%	0	25.16%	16 ( 6)	1.74%	1 ( 1)	32.22%	20 ( 12)	4.71%	2 ( 2)	0.72%	1 ( 1)
Luxembourg	37 ( 10)	34.95%	14 ( 8)	—		11.58%	2 ( 1)	1.8%	0	26.06	11 ( 6)	—		23.03%	10 ( 4)	0.6%	0	—
Namur	37 ( 19)	19.87%	8 ( 6)	—		13.97%	4 ( 3)	2.4%	0	29.79%	13 ( 4)	—		27.82%	12 ( 6)	2.1%	0	—
Walloon Brabant	37 ( 19)	12.26%	5 ( 4)	—		16.29	6 ( 3)	4.78%	2 ( 2)	42.44%	17 ( 7)	—		17.33%	7 ( 5)	0.8%	0	—
Total	223 ( 104)		40		1		24		2		73		1		79		2		1

Municipal elections

City (Provincial capital)	CDH	Ecolo	MR	PS	Other
Arlon	11	4	6	8	—
Liège	7	6	11	22	3
Mons	3	3	8	29	2
Namur	16	6	10	15	—
Wavre	3	4	*	4	20 (LB)

Foreign residents

For the third time, non-Belgian EU residents may vote and be candidate for the municipal elections under the same conditions as Belgian residents, and for the second time non-Belgian non-EU residents may vote, but not be candidate, after 5 years residency. As voting is compulsory and Belgium may not impose voting on foreign residents, would-be voters from both categories have to fill a document and go to their municipal administration before August 1, 2012 to be included on the list of electors. Non-EU residents have to sign a document accepting to conform to Belgian laws and Constitution.^[7] The percentage of foreign residents who are enlisted as electors has severely declined from 2006 to 2012: from 20.9% to 14.85% for EU residents, from 15.7% to 6.30% for non-EU residents (still including Bulgarians and Rumanians in 2006).^[8]

References

^ "http://vlaanderenkiest.be". Retrieved 2011-10-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
^ N-VA neemt in minstens tien Brusselse gemeenten deel aan gemeenteraadsverkiezingen, 23 May 2012, n-va.be
^ "Antwerpenaars kiezen massaal voor De Wever in peiling" (in Dutch). deredactie.be.
^ "Kartel van Termont blaast tegenstand weg in Gent" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
^ "Tobback blijft stevig in het zadel in Leuven" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
^ "Nek-aan-nekrace tussen CD&V en SP.A in Brugge" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.
^ Document for EU residents (French), Dutch), for non-EU residents (French), (Dutch), Website of the Interior Ministry
^ Statistiques officielles des électeurs, Website of the Interior Ministry

External links

Electoral leaflets and posters, Tractothèque

[1] "http://vlaanderenkiest.be". Retrieved 2011-10-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)

[2] N-VA neemt in minstens tien Brusselse gemeenten deel aan gemeenteraadsverkiezingen, 23 May 2012, n-va.be

[3] "Antwerpenaars kiezen massaal voor De Wever in peiling" (in Dutch). deredactie.be.

[4] "Kartel van Termont blaast tegenstand weg in Gent" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.

[5] "Tobback blijft stevig in het zadel in Leuven" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.

[6] "Nek-aan-nekrace tussen CD&V en SP.A in Brugge" (in Dutch). Deredactie.be.

[7] Document for EU residents (French), Dutch), for non-EU residents (French), (Dutch), Website of the Interior Ministry

[8] Statistiques officielles des électeurs, Website of the Interior Ministry

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 * [[Brussels-Capital Region|Brussels]] with [[List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region|19 municipalities]]
 * [[Flemish Region|Flanders]] with 5 provinces and [[List of municipalities of the Flemish Region|308 municipalities]]
-** In the city of [[Antwerp]], elections will also be held for [[Districts of Antwerp|its districts]]
+** In the city of [[Antwerp]], elections were also held for [[Districts of Antwerp|its districts]]
 * [[Wallonia]] with 5 provinces and [[List of municipalities of the Walloon Region|262 municipalities]]
 In the [[municipalities with language facilities]] of [[Voeren]], [[Comines-Warneton]] and the 6 of the [[Brussels Periphery]], the [[schepen|aldermen]] and members of the [[Public Centre for Social Welfare|OCMW/CPAS]] council are directly elected.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vlaanderenkiest.be |title=http://vlaanderenkiest.be |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2011-10-17}}</ref>
@@ Line 194: / Line 194: @@
 [[Leuven]] has a similar situation where polls indicate that SP.A, the party of incumbent mayor [[Louis Tobback]], would still be the largest. N-VA, CD&V and Groen follow after a gap.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1448045 |title=Tobback blijft stevig in het zadel in Leuven |publisher=Deredactie.be |language=Dutch}}</ref>
-In [[Bruges]], the incumbent mayor {{Ill|nl|Patrick Moenaert}} (CD&V), who led a coalition of CD&V/N-VA, SP.A and VLD (which were all represented parties except Groen and VB), quits so all possibilities remain open. Polls give CD&V, SP.A and N-VA as major parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1448091 |title=Nek-aan-nekrace tussen CD&V en SP.A in Brugge |publisher=Deredactie.be |language=Dutch}}</ref>
-{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%;"
-|-
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:250px;" | City (Provincial capital)
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | CD&V
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | Flemish Interest
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | Green
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | N-VA
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | Open VLD
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | PVDA+
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | SP.A
-!style="background-color:#E9E9E9; width:50px;" | Other
-|-
-| [[Antwerp]] || * || 5 || 4 || bgcolor="yellow"|23 || 2 || 4 || * || 17&nbsp;(SP.A-CD&V)
-|-
-| [[Bruges]] || 13 || 2 || 3 || 10 || 5 || — || bgcolor="red"|14 || —
-|-
-| [[Ghent]] || 4 || 3 || * || 9 || 9|| — || * || bgcolor="lightgrey"|26&nbsp;(SP.A-Green)
-|-
-| [[Hasselt]] || 10 || 1 || * || 11 || 4 || — || * || bgcolor="lightgrey"|14&nbsp;(SP.A-Green)
-|-
-| [[Leuven]] || 9 || 1 || 7 || 9 || 3 || — || bgcolor="red"|16 || —
-|-
-|}
 ==== Antwerp ====
 The outgoing coalition led by mayor [[Patrick Janssens]] (sp.a) was replaced by a coalition led by [[Bart De Wever]] (N-VA).
 {{Election box begin |
-  |title=Antwerp City Council election, 2012
+  |title=[[Antwerp]] City Council election, 2012
   |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
 }}
@@ Line 275: / Line 249: @@
   |percentage = 2.0%
   |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box end}}
+==== Bruges ====
+In [[Bruges]], the incumbent mayor {{Ill|nl|Patrick Moenaert}} (CD&V), who led a coalition of CD&V/N-VA, SP.A and VLD (which were all represented parties except Groen and VB), quit so all possibilities remained open. Polls gave CD&V, SP.A and N-VA as major parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1448091 |title=Nek-aan-nekrace tussen CD&V en SP.A in Brugge |publisher=Deredactie.be |language=Dutch}}</ref>
+{{Election box begin |
+  |title=[[Bruges]] City Council election, 2012
+  |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
 }}
 {{Election box end}}
@@ Line 281: / Line 264: @@
 The outgoing coalition led by mayor [[Daniël Termont]] (sp.a) was re-elected.
 {{Election box begin |
-  |title=Ghent City Council election, 2012
+  |title=[[Ghent]] City Council election, 2012
   |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
 }}
@@ Line 331: / Line 314: @@
   |votes      = 3,694
   |percentage = 2.4%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box end}}
+==== Hasselt ====
+{{Election box begin |
+  |title=[[Hasselt]] City Council election, 2012
+  |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
+}}
+{{Election box end}}
+==== Leuven ====
+{{Election box begin |
+  |title=[[Leuven]] City Council election, 2012
+  |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
+}}
+{{Election box end}}
+==== Mechelen ====
+{{Election box begin |
+  |title=[[Mechelen]] City Council election, 2012
+  |candidatetitle=[[Lijsttrekker|Main candidate]]
+}}
+{{Election box candidate|
+  |party      = [[Open Vld|vld]]-[[Groen (political party)|Groen]]-m+
+  |candidate  = [[Bart Somers]] (16 seats won)
+  |votes      = 17,900
+  |percentage = 33.9%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate with party link|
+  |party      = New Flemish Alliance
+  |candidate  = [[Marc Hendrickx]] (11 seats won)
+  |votes      = 12,244
+  |percentage = 23.2%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate with party link|
+  |party      = Socialist Party Differently
+  |candidate  = [[Caroline Gennez]] (8 seats won)
+  |votes      = 9,610
+  |percentage = 18.2%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate with party link|
+  |party      = Christian Democratic and Flemish
+  |candidate  = Walter Schroons (5 seats won)
+  |votes      = 6,524
+  |percentage = 12.4%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate with party link|
+  |party      = Flemish Interest
+  |candidate  = Frank Creyelman (3 seats won)
+  |votes      = 4,589
+  |percentage = 8.7%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate with party link|
+  |party      = Workers' Party of Belgium
+  |candidate  = [[Dirk Tuypens]] (no seats won)
+  |votes      = 1,610
+  |percentage = 3%
+  |change     =
+}}
+{{Election box candidate|
+  |party      = Bewoners Partij
+  |candidate  = Jan Mussin (no seats won)
+  |votes      = 328
+  |percentage = 0.6%
   |change     =
 }}

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