Liberal Francophone party Mouvement Réformateur (MR) has lodged two complaints against socialist health insurance fund Solidaris, party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez told Bel RTL on Thursday morning.
The health insurance fund used its mailing list to politically advertise for the Socialist Party (PS), according to Bouchez, who has alerted parliamentary president Eliane Tillieux (PS) to this "problematic behaviour".
The first complaint relates to "breaching the laws on political party funding, since Solidaris sent an email to all its members calling on them to vote for the PS." The second complaint filed argues that Solidaris breached privacy regulations using a mailing list "that was not intended to receive political information."
Candidate spending on political advertising has been in a "blackout period" since 9 February, exactly four months before Belgium goes to the polls. Solidaris has aided PS in breaking this rule, according to Bouchez.
"This email, funded by large amounts of public money and published by an organisation heavily funded by public funds, consistently advocates for leftist parties, particularly the socialist party, and barely considers objective criteria in its arguments," he explained.
'Fake news'
The email in question compares political parties on health issues, reportedly favouring the socialists and criticising other French-speaking parties, especially MR, which it accuses of planning to cut the health care budget by 12%.
Meanwhile, PS proposes a comprehensive healthcare programme and accompanying funding, which is preferred by the socialist health insurance. Bouchez dismisses the claim as "fake news", arguing that MR "does not want to take a single euro away from healthcare."
In addition, MR criticises Solidaris for disseminating political content to its member database during the election period. Bouchez believes this practise warrants an investigation by the Data Protection Authority (APD).
The politician has asked the parliamentary committee overseeing election expenditures to investigate whether the law has been upheld in this regard. He wants the relevant candidates to cover the costs of the content that allegedly promoted them.
