After an eventful triple-election day shook up Belgium's political landscape, some parties ended a long weekend on an (unexpected) high while others were left licking their wounds after a crushing defeat.
Despite many opinion polls in the lead-up to the elections marking out the Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang as the big winner, the party remained behind the Flemish right-wing N-VA – which surprised even its own party leader Bart De Wever.
"Ad astra per aspera," De Wever said as he started his victory speech. A fan of Latin, the phrase means 'Along the hardest road to the stars' and came after De Wever took to the stage to the soundtrack of Elton John's 'I'm still standing'. N-VA held up well in Flanders and remains the largest party in the region, although polls have for months predicted that Vlaams Belang would take the lead.
N-VA surprises in Flanders
"We won the elections! Admit it, you didn't expect that," De Wever said, addressing the 300 N-VA supporters in the party headquarters. "We are Flanders’ leading people's party. Flanders has chosen autonomy."
De Wever congratulated the "other winners", saying that "Flanders has chosen to save welfare with a policy that values people who work, save and undertake"
He also spared a word for the losers. While he did not mention anyone by name, it was clear that he was referring to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's Open VLD party. "Flanders has dealt with the Federal 'Vivaldi' Government. I express my condolences to the supporters of the losing parties. You have to be dignified in wins and losses. I utter these words in the hope that this result can also inspire them."
Starting on Monday, De Wever wants to make "the necessary contacts, also across the language border," in an effort to "form an alliance as soon as possible to pull the country out of the quagmire budget-wise."
N-VA leader Bart De Wever delivers a speech at the post-election meeting of Flemish nationalist party N-VA. Credit: Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
Vlaams Belang – which did not win the election, but still gained over 23% of the votes in Flanders – called on N-VA to "not miss this historic opportunity" to form a Flemish Government together, despite the fact that it is mathematically not possible without a third party.
While the party did not succeed in becoming the biggest party in Flanders, leader Tom Van Grieken stressed that the region still "voted even more right-wing and Flemish than five years ago".
Socialists Vooruit are among the winners of the elections "for the first time in 20 years," said party leader Melissa Depraetere in her speech on Sunday evening. "Here stands a proud team and a proud leader."
Vooruit's Conner Rousseau, Melissa Depraetere, Caroline Gennez and Frank Vandenbroucke. Credit: Belga
"Flanders has clearly shown there is room for a party that stands up for the people, for their purchasing power and for care," she said. Vooruit is "open to constructive talks" but the party will only step into a government if "it will benefit the population" with a focus on "more purchasing power, more care and better education."
During her speech, Depraetere was flanked not only by ministers Caroline Gennez and Frank Vandenbroucke but also by former party leader Conner Rousseau, who gained the most votes in East Flanders – even from his position at the bottom of the list.
The biggest loser in Flanders is Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's Open VLD, which fell below 10% at the federal and Flemish levels. Party leader Tom Ongena stated that there is a high chance the party will go into opposition and not enter a government.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo gets emotional at Open VLD's post-election meeting. Credit: Belga / James Arthur Gekiere
Ongena also announced his resignation: "I am not going to succeed myself. We will have to see when we organise our internal elections."
Groen also lost in Flanders and failed to even meet the 5% electoral threshold in the Limburg province, meaning that the constituency cannot provide MPs for the Flemish or federal parliament. In the other provinces, the party did achieve the electoral threshold.
Meanwhile, Christian-Democrat CD&V were able to limit the damage and is currently heading for 13% in the Flemish Parliament. The radical left PTB-PVDA also secured solid gains in Flanders and is now as big as Open VLD and even bigger than Groen.
Big shift in Brussels
The Brussels Parliament saw a major shift as for the first time in 15 years the French-speaking liberal MR became the biggest French-speaking party in the Captial Region. MR secured just under 26% of the vote among French-speaking parties in Brussels (much higher than their 2019 score of 16.9%).
Among Dutch-speaking parties in Brussels, Groen scored best with 22.28%. Additionally, the list of Fouad Ahidar (a former Vooruit politician) also scored remarkably, with over 16% among Dutch-speaking parties in Brussels. This makes it the second on the Dutch-speaking side in Brussels, ahead of Vooruit at just 10.1%.
Credit: Belga
How the cards fell in Wallonia
In Wallonia, the Francophone liberal MR leads the Walloon parliament with just under 30% of the votes – putting the party ahead of the French-speaking socialists PS for the first time, a total reversal.
The centrist Les Engagés (the former Christian Democratic party CDH) also did better than expected, taking more than 20% of seats in the Walloon Parliament. Both the MR and Les Engagés reached out to the N-VA during the campaign, with proposals for a possible state reform.
The PS – which was the largest party in Wallonia in 2019 – lost more than 3% of the vote to now land in second place with 23.22% of the votes. However, the most substantial losses were suffered by French-speaking ecologists Ecolo (6.97%), whose vote has halved since 2019.
The Belgian Workers' Party (PTB-PVDA) did not live up to expectations in Wallonia and even lost voters. It ended with around 12%.
Seat in the Federal Parliament
With 24 seats, the Flemish right-wing N-VA remains the leading parliamentary group in Belgium's Federal Parliament – despite losing one seat, according to definite election results published on the Interior Affairs Ministry website.
Following closely behind was the Francophone liberal MR with 20 seats. MR won big in the Brussels-Capital Region and in Wallonia, gaining six seats. In third place is the far-right Vlaams Belang, which gained two seats to end with 20.
While PS lost four seats, the party still ended up in fourth place with a total of 16 seats. Next was the radical left PTB-PVDA, which gained three seats for a total of 15. The most substantial climb was registered with the Francophone centrist Les Engagés (previously called cdH) who gained nine seats to secure 14 in total. Vooruit got 13 (+2) seats.
The Flemish Christian-Democrats CD&V now have 11 seats (-1), while the Flemish liberal Open VLD lost big and stranded at seven seats (–5). Flemish greens Groen are at six seats (–2), and Francophone Ecolo at three (–10). DéFI closes the list with just one seat (–1).
This way, the liberal family (MR and Open VLD) holds seats, outpacing the centrist family (CD&V and Les Engagés) at 27 seats, and the socialist family (PS and Vooruit) holding 25 seats. Meanwhile, N-VA alone will have 24 seats, and Vlaams Belang has 20.
This article was updated on Monday morning following the publication of the complete voting results.
