2010 Belgian federal election

Background

Fall of the government

Main article: Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde

Following a continued lack of agreement over how to resolve the conflict over the electoral arrondissement of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, the liberal Open VLD left the government on 22 April 2010, continuing the 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis. Prime Minister Yves Leterme (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams, CD&V) immediately offered his resignation to King Albert II, who accepted it on 26 April 2010. Following the elections held on 13 June, there were fears that coalition-building may take so long that Belgium's presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts on 1 July 2010, might have to start under a caretaker government.

Constitutionality of elections

According to a statement by the Flemish President of the Constitutional Court, Marc Bossuyt, the elections might be ruled unconstitutional unless the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde arrondissement is split up beforehand. On 4 May, all but one Flemish judge-president of the 13 Flemish Courts of First Instance wrote a collective letter, saying that the elections cannot be held with the current electoral districts and that a return to the previous electoral arrondissements is necessary. In contrast, Ghislain Londers, the president of the Court of Cassation declared that all judges are obliged to cooperate with the electoral process. Before the judges' letters, former president of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Herman De Croo stated that no court could prevent the elections from taking place.

Importance of elections

The international media saw the election as crucial to determine the future of the country, even though it was admitted that devolution would not happen immediately.

Date

The parliament was dissolved by Declaration of Revision of the Constitution on 7 May 2010 and elections were called by royal order of the same day. The period with rules and limits on campaign spending (sperperiode), which normally runs three months prior to election day, started that day.

Voting occurred on Sunday 13 June 2010 between 08:00 and 13:00 in polling stations with paper ballots, and between 08:00 and 15:00 in those with electronic voting.

The newly elected parliament was to convene on 6 July 2010.

Parties

Flemish parties (Dutch speaking)

These Flemish parties field candidates in the regions of Flanders and the partially bilingual electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.

• New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) – centre-right political party, seeking secession of Flanders.
• Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams, CD&V) – Christian democratic party with historic ties to both trade unionism and corporative organizations.
• Socialist Party – Differently (Socialistische Partij – Anders, sp.a) – social-democratic party.
• Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, open-VLD) – liberal party.
• Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) – seeking the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration.
• Green! (Groen!) – green political party.
• List Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker) – conservative-liberal party.

Walloon parties (French speaking)

These Francophone parties fielded candidates in the region of Wallonia and in the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.

• Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) – social-democratic party.
• Reformist Movement (*Mouvement Réformateur *, MR) – liberal party.
• Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre Démocrate Humaniste, CDH) – Christian democratic party.
• Ecolo – green political party.
• People's Party (Parti Populaire) – conservative-liberal party.

Candidates

Leterme stepped aside on 28 April 2010 and was replaced as leader of CD&V by Marianne Thyssen.

Notable newcomers in politics:

• Rik Torfs, former canon law professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, was on the Senate list for CD&V.
• Siegfried Bracke, former political analyst at the Flemish public broadcaster VRT was first on the Chamber list in East Flanders for N-VA.
• Eva Brems, human rights professor at Ghent University and former president of the Flemish division of Amnesty International. She was head of the Chamber list in Flemish Brabant for Groen!.

Polls

As of May 26, it appeared that the major development in the election was the surge in popularity of the N-VA in Flanders. Led by Bart De Wever, it supports eventual independence for Flanders, and an immediate switch from a federal Belgium to a confederal Belgium. The N-VA replaces the CD&V of outgoing PM Yves Leterme as the most popular party in Flanders. This development opens the question of how the francophone parties might react to forming a government with an openly sovereigntist, but politically centrist party if they do win a plurality of votes in Flanders. It appeared that the N-VA had attracted some popularity from the ethnic nationalist party, Vlaams Belang.

Results

After polls showed the N-VA receiving 29% of votes in their region, media interpreted the election as a "victory for Flemish independence". The following tables contain percentages on the national level (i.e. the result of N-VA is 17.4% on the national level, while it is 27.8% on the regional level).

Chamber of Representatives

Details

Results by party (seats)

Results by electoral constituencies (percentages)

Senate

Chamber of Representatives (geographically)

These maps depict the largest party in each constituency.

Dutch-speaking constituencies

Legend:

Brussels, French- & German-speaking constituencies

Legend:

Most popular candidates

Candidates receiving the highest number of preferential votes.

Government formation

Main article: 2010–2011 Belgian government formation

On possible coalitions, election winner Bart De Wever announced he would seek negotiations with the Francophone Socialist Party. The Socialist Party leader Elio di Rupo was tapped to become the next Prime Minister, because the socialist parties emerged as the largest "party family" in the elections, and because the New Flemish Alliance lacks a Francophone counterpart.

Philip Blenkinsop of Reuters stated that the win of the New Flemish Alliance could have negative effects because "Belgium can ill afford drawn-out coalition talks because it has a large debt and any policy paralysis could make the country vulnerable on financial markets that are closely watching a sovereign debt crisis."

Coalition formation continued for a record-breaking 541 days, with a government under Elio Di Rupo eventually being formed on 6 December 2011 after agreement was reached on the 2012 budget. The Di Rupo I Government included the Liberal, Socialist and Christian Democratic parties from both Flanders and Wallonia. The government excludes the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Greens of Groen and Ecolo, Vlaams Belang on the right, the Lijst Dedecker and the People's Party. N-VA's absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, meant the government coalition lacked a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister has been openly gay and the world's first male openly gay head of government Belgium was thus the second European country to have a homosexual prime minister, after Iceland (Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir). Elio Di Rupo was the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first Walloon prime minister since 1974.

References

References

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