Belgian Wafflers(A Belgian Election Thread)

[Shrillland]

We are now only two months from the EU elections, and that also means we're only two months from Belgium's general election on May 26. Belgium, if you're not familiar, is the EU's equivalent of an unhappily married couple that should've divorced years ago, but neither wanted to give the other the satisfaction or lose the B&B that they own together. Because of this, the poll is a little different. There's just one choice like usual, but some choices will be made of two or even three parties that are politically and ideologically identical apart from being Flemish/Walloon/German.

Local election held last October showed a rise in parties on the more extreme ends of the spectrum, particularly in Flanders, where both the Workers Party of Belgium(the only pan-Belgian party in the Chamber) and Vlaams Belang showed considerable gains. In Wallonia, the right-wing tide was less measurable, but the Workers Party did fairly well. The government is a centre-right coalition with Charles Michel at the head, but it's only a minority government after the New Flemish Alliance pulled out back in December. Their leader, Bart de Wever, was opposed to the UN's Global Compact for Migration, whilst the other parties were in favour of it. De Wever has been accused of pulling N-VA further to the right in recent years.

As for whom I think will form a coalition...I'm not even going to try to predict a government yet since Belgium is notorious for hopeless deadlock.

Anyway, the elections are for the Chamber of Representatives. There are 150 seats up for grabs in 11 multi-member constituencies. Voting is compulsory and the country uses PR D'Hondt counting with a 5% threshold. Here are the parties that are likely to get into the chamber according to the latest polls.

New Flemish Alliance(N-VA) led by Bart De Wever: Centre-right to Right Wing, Flemish Nationalist, Separatist, Conservative, Soft Euroeceptic

Christian Democratic & Flemish(CD&V) led by Wouter Beke: Centre to Centre-right, Christian Democratic
Or
Humanist Democratic Centre(cdH) led by Maxime Prevot: Centre, Christian Democratic, Christian Humanist
Or
Christian Social Party(CSP) led by Luc Frank: Centre to Centre-right, German-speaking, Christian Democratic

Socialist Party(PS) led by Elio Di Rupo: Centre-left, Social Democratic, Walloon
Or
Socialist Party Differently(sp.a) led by John Crombez: Centre-left, Social Democratic, Democratic Socialist, Flemish

Reformist Movement(MR) led by current PM Charles Michel: Centre-right, Conservative Liberal, Social Liberal
Or
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats(Open VLD) led by Gwendolyn Rutten: Centre-right, Pro-European, Social Liberal, Conservative Liberal

Groen led by Meyrem Almaci: Centre-left to Left Wing, Green Policy, Multicultural, Progressive
Or
Ecolo led by Zakia Khatabi and Jean-Marc Nollet: Left Wing, Green Politics

Vlaams Belang[Flemish Interest](VB) led by Tom Van Grieken: Right to Far-right, Flemish Separatist, Right Populist, Eurosceptic, National Conservative,Economic Liberal

People's Party(PP) led by Mischaël Modrikamen: Right to Far-right, Walloon Nationalist, Right Populist, Eurosceptic, Conservative Liberal

Workers' Party of Belgium(PVDA-PTB) led by Peter Mertens: Far-left, Socialist, Communist

DéFI led by Olivier Maingain: Centre to Centre-right, Brussels Francophone Regionalism, Social Liberal

Quite a lot to go through, but many of them, as I've said, only differ in their region or their interests. So, which party or ideological grouping do you support, NSG?

Here, Id have to say that I side with the Greens. They're willing to move Belgium forward and show that it's a welcoming society whilst doing what they can to ensure the economy works for people and to ensure Europe is weaved closer together.

EDIT: Here are two political compass tests, one for the Flemish and one for the Walloons, and they do some different questions: https://www.rtbf.be/tv/article/detail_de-quel-parti-etes-vous-le-plus-proche-faites-le-test-electoral?id=10185898
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/kies19/stemtest/#/

[The Blaatschapen]

As always, a toss up between Groen and Open VLD for me.

As a Dutch speaking person, I do not see myself voting for a walloon party, if I had any voting rights in Belgium. And while I prefer voting a pan-Belgian party in a pan-Belgian election (this only makes sense in my point of view), the only viable choice there is socialist. Which is not an option for me

[The Feylands]

Probably NV-A. Based on what European parliament group they're in.

Of course... Belgium isn't much of a country to begin with.. I suppose that's why it's such a perfect seat for the Eurocrats...? -.-

Humanist Democratic Centre seems to be a perfect mix of nearly everything I don't like haha...

[Shrillland]

Probably NV-A. Based on what European parliament group they're in.

Of course... Belgium isn't much of a country to begin with.. I suppose that's why it's such a perfect seat for the Eurocrats...? -.-

Humanist Democratic Centre seems to be a perfect mix of nearly everything I don't like haha...

NV-A's in the ECR group.

[Bienenhalde]

As usual, I support the Christian Democrats.

[Erusean Kingdom]

Why isn't there a poll option that supports the partition of Belgium?

[Shrillland]

Why isn't there a poll option that supports the partition of Belgium?

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

[Erusean Kingdom]

Why isn't there a poll option that supports the partition of Belgium?

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

Phooey.

[Painisia]

As the one of the politicians from the CD&V called the climate protesters "manipulated by the far-left", I`ll go with the Centre democrate humaniste.

And as Belgium is disintegrating into two countries, Vive Wallonia!


https://www.rtl.be/info/belgique/politi ... 98911.aspx

[The Grims]

Why isn't there a poll option that supports the partition of Belgium?

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

Just think of the children. Who would get the German part if thr other two seperate

[The Blaatschapen]

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

Just think of the children. Who would get the German part if thr other two seperate

Luxembourg.

*nods*

[The Feylands]

Probably NV-A. Based on what European parliament group they're in.

Of course... Belgium isn't much of a country to begin with.. I suppose that's why it's such a perfect seat for the Eurocrats...? -.-

Humanist Democratic Centre seems to be a perfect mix of nearly everything I don't like haha...

NV-A's in the ECR group.

Yeh. I know.

So is the party I'll vote for here in Sweden.

[The Feylands]

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

Just think of the children. Who would get the German part if thr other two seperate

Afaik.. it was "land grabbed" from Germany after WW1, no? =o

[Baltenstein]

This is just for the election, not necessarily the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

Just think of the children. Who would get the German part if thr other two seperate

Ahem.

*PutsOnPickelhaube*

[Dresderstan]

I have no idea who I'd support, probably the Christian Democrats.

Also is anyone gonna talk about Article 13 passing, no, okay.

[Shrillland]

I have no idea who I'd support, probably the Christian Democrats.

Also is anyone gonna talk about Article 13 passing, no, okay.

Well, that's not especially relevant to this thread, though you could probably make one to discuss the tragedy.

[Shrillland]

Well, folks, here's the isidewith equivalents for the upcoming vote. Two of them, in fact! This is because Belgium doesn't have a single national broadcaster, leaving the Walloons and the Flemish to take care of it themselves. Bear in mind, some of the questions are the same, but some are different.
https://www.rtbf.be/tv/article/detail_de-quel-parti-etes-vous-le-plus-proche-faites-le-test-electoral?id=10185898
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/kies19/stemtest/#/

For the Walloon test I got 78% PS, 74% for Ecolo, and 71% for cdH.

For the Flemish test I got 68% for the PVDA-PTB, 63% for Groen, 60% for sp.a...and 52% for VB even though I don't particularly care for VB.

[Shrillland]

Anyway, here's the news.

Flemish parties are stuck in their attempts to ban the use of corporal punishment on children nationwide, largely because VB still supports its use: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/04/08/waarom-heeft-belgie-nog-steeds-geen-verbod-op-het-slaan-van-kind/

Not much this week, but we've still got some time for things to ramp up.

[Shrillland]

Now for some news:

Interior Minister and N-VA stalwart Jan Jambon is vowing to fix the "construction error" of not having N-VA leading the next government: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/04/15/analyse-jambon-premier/

With N-VA still leading in the overall counts, their support of nuclear power may hamstring their ability to form a government as Groen and Ecolo are opposed to them and parties like VB are becoming less supportive of climate change legislation: https://www.rtbf.be/info/dossier/elections-2019/detail_le-climat-pourrait-il-empecher-la-formation-d-un-nouveau-gouvernement?id=10193685

Olivier Maingain says that DeFl will not join any Francophone government that works with N-VA : https://www.rtbf.be/info/belgique/detail_olivier-maingain-defi-invite-de-jeudi-en-prime-ce-soir-a-20h?id=10193864

And Bart de Wever forces N-VA to do a complete about face on a proposed kilometric tax that they had hitherto supported: https://www.rtbf.be/info/article/detail_taxe-kilometrique-en-flandre-pourquoi-la-n-va-change-son-fusil-d-epaule-joyce-azar?id=10192461

[Shrillland]

Here's some of the latest from the trail...

Belgium's major news outlets did a barometer poll showing what issues are important to the Belgian people of all three areas. https://www.rtbf.be/info/belgique/detail_barometre-rtbf-vrt-la-libre-de-standaard-frilosite-face-aux-gestes-pour-la-planete?id=10202785

It won't be out completely until late tonight EDT, but some of the highlights include a more or less united support behind the continuation of company cars with 46-48% opposed to the government's "mobility budget" plans to encourage private vehicle ownership, though the question was only asked in Wallonia and Brussels.

Another Walloon question concerned adding a kerosene tax to airplane tickets. The results were more or less within the margin of error with 43-41 against in Brussels and 45-41 against in Wallonia.
People in all regions including Flanders support overwhelmingly returning the retirement age to 65 from the 67 that the current government is raising it to.

Groen is pushing a new wealth tax for people who have assets over €1,000,000: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/04/23/belasting-op-vermogen-van-1-miljoen-euro-middenklassetaks-volge/

[Esternial]

Eyyy I'm relevant.

I took the test and I got mostly Groen and NVA, which I can agree with.

[Esternial]

the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

u wot m8?

[Shrillland]

the divorce that Belgium so desperately needs.

u wot m8?

Well, it's not my fault that Belgium's so hopelessly divided and entrenched.

[Esternial]

u wot m8?

Well, it's not my fault that Belgium's so hopelessly divided and entrenched.

Don't know where you live but out here it's not as bad as you pretend it is.

[Shrillland]

Well, it's not my fault that Belgium's so hopelessly divided and entrenched.

Don't know where you live but out here it's not as bad as you pretend it is.

The US, and the OP statement was meant in jest.