There's a certain type of expat who has lived in Belgium for ages but never accepted the fact that this is home.
The expat who bellyaches about Belgians being standoffish but hasn’t got any Belgian friends; who can talk at length about the best beaches in Brazil but wouldn’t dream of spending a weekend on the Belgian coast; who complains about Belgian bureaucracy but doesn’t pay his taxes here; who can rattle off the swing states in the US elections at ease but thinks Vooruit is the name of a Flemish rock festival; who moans about Belgium being boring but never makes the effort to get to know the country; who criticises the poor service he receives in restaurants without bothering to learn either French or Dutch; and who grumbles about the dirty, pot-holed and crime-ridden streets in his neighbourhood but can’t spare two minutes registering to vote in local elections.
How do I know so much about this slightly caricaturised expat? Because for 20 years, that was essentially me. I didn't just bitch about Belgium, I turned it into an art form, whingeing about everything from the shoddy state of the pavements to the lousy weather. And I’m from Wales.
In retrospect, I realise my frustration stemmed from a feeling of not belonging in Belgium. But I didn’t belong in the country because I played no part in it and had no stake in it. The moment I started to become involved - whether by pouring beer at my daughters’ school “fancy fair” or by voting in local elections - was the moment I started to like living in Belgium.
So if you want to avoid the stupid mistake I made for two decades, I have one simple piece of advice: register to vote in October’s municipal elections.
Porte de Namur in Brussels. Credit: Ugo Realfonzo / The Brussels Times
Unlike regional and national elections, non-Belgian internationals are allowed to vote at the local level. The problem is, they rarely do. In the last municipal elections in 2018, just over 16% of international voters in Belgium cast a ballot. And as of May, the non-Belgian voter registration rate had dropped to 12% – although expect this figure to rise thanks to the tireless work of Restless Brussels and other groups.
Ask internationals why they don’t register and you get either feeble excuses or half-cooked tales. In a 2012 poll of EU citizens living in Brussels, almost half said they did not vote in the previous local election because voting is compulsory in Belgium. True, but only for Belgians, and almost nobody gets fined for not voting once they have registered.
The second main reason for not voting was “I am not interested.” This has the virtue of being honest but the vice of being disingeneous. Because if you ask internationals in Brussels their top five priorities to improve life in the city, they list fighting air pollution, more street and infrastructure repairs, less car traffic, greener spaces and cleaner streets, according to a 2018 poll.
These are all issues in which local councils play an important role. Yet most expats can’t be bothered to use the one occasion they have to influence them in a positive way.
The Brussels skyline, from the rooftop of Brucity, the administration building of the Bruxelles 1000 commune. Credit: The Brussels Times / Orlando Whitehead
This failure to vote leaves a gaping hole at the heart of Belgian democracy. In Brussels, the most cosmopolitan city in the world after Dubai, a third of all potential voters are non-Belgians. And in municipalities like Etterbeek, Ixelles and Saint-Gilles, that number rises to almost half the population.
The irony is that many of the people who don’t vote in local elections are political obsessives who work in and around the European institutions and spend their days worrying about the EU’s democratic deficit. But when it comes to Brussels’ democratic deficit they prefer to turn a blind eye.
This is not just a political failure, but a personal one. It’s difficult to feel part of a community you have no stake in. Voting gives you that stake and makes you care about what’s going on in your neighbourhood.
So if you’re unhappy about the safety of the streets in your neighbourhood, register to vote for October’s municipal elections by the end of this week.
If you want more cycle lanes and traffic-calming measures in your neighbourhood – or if you want the opposite – register to vote.
If you grouch about the cleanliness of your neighbourhood, register to vote.
If you’re concerned about the quality of housing and public services in your neighbourhood, register.
If you’re peeved about the results of the regional and elections in June, which maybe you were not allowed to vote in, register.
If you give a damn about democracy, and honouring the people who have fought – and still fight – for the right to vote, then register.
And if you care about creating strong communities in which all citizens have a stake, then register.
Registering to vote is easy – just click here. It’s quick – it takes about two minutes. And it’s important – just do it before July 31 when the deadline to register expires.
As someone who spent far too long bleating about Belgium without doing anything to change it, believe me when I say that voting will not only make you more connected to the community and country you live in, but could make a difference to how it’s run. You’ll only regret it if you don’t do it, so sign up now.
