Belgium's 2024 local elections are around the corner. Brussels residents will vote to elect their local council on Sunday 13 October, and indirectly, their new mayor (bourgmestre in French or burgemeester in Dutch).
Knowing how the local election list system works is key to understanding who is running. Find all you need to know about lists here. Our practical guide will tell you everything you need to know before the big day.
Some numbers below are missing. This is because there are a total of 13 lists in Brussels, but not every list appears in every commune.
Current mayor: Emir Kir (Independent)
Current coalition: Liste du Bourgmestre
Number of seats on the council: 29 seats
Population: 28,895 (Statbel)
Average income: €11,082 (Statbel)
Average cost of housing: The average price for a flat is €3,029/m², while the average cost for a house is €2,547/m² (Immoweb)
3. Les Engagés-CD&V-MR-Open VLD
List leader: Saïd Benhammou (Les Engagés)
Number of candidates on the list: 29
Unemployment: improve employment rate of youth, migrants and disabled people, limit unemployment to two years maximum, focus on bilingualism, create first specialised school.
Economy: improve social status of freelance workers, hone entrepreneurial spirit by simplifying administration, support HoReCa.
Environment: mixed sustainable energy use, increase renovation rate to 3%, create 15 hectares of green space a year until 2035, ban loud aircrafts, create underground waste bins, regionalise waste collection.
Security: reinforce police (800 officers), strengthen judicial services, modify the status of 300 security agents of STIB, improve the security situation at Brussels-North station by listening to local concerns.
Mobility: oppose Good Move mobility policy but favour general objective, improve public transport and finalise metro construction.
Full programme here.
4. Ecolo-Groen
List leader: Ahmed Mouhssin (Ecolo)
Number of candidates on the list: 29
Security: tough penalties on drug dealers, work with social stakeholders to offer targeted support to people with addictions (low-risk consumption rooms), create Zones d'Action Renforcée (ZARs) to make neighbourhoods safer and more supportive.
Social policy: strengthen the supply of social and solidarity grocery shops, create social vegetable allotments on the roofs of public buildings or private areas, relaunch outreach services to support vulnerable homeless people.
Climate: restore biodiversity, make Saint-Josse's squares greener, install special containers for orange bags in every neighbourhood.
Local issues: reopen the Saint-Josse train station, open a migration museum, set up neighbourhood meetings with police, cleaners, social and health services or any other municipal service.
Full programme here.
5. Socialist Party (PS)
List leader: Philippe Boïketé
Number of candidates on the list: 29
Security: eradicate sex work in red light district, reinforce police presence on the road and install CCTV cameras in the area, create a neighbourhood council to help security and public order, close bars at 01:00 to help reduce nuisance, increase police patrols.
Cleanliness: improve collaboration and organisation with the Region, install mobile cameras to deal with littering, set up a night brigade to stop illegal dumping and impose sanctions.
Housing: create 300 extra social and council flats, renovate and insulate flats, particularly around Brussels-North station, stop abuses on rental markets (rent hikes, bad maintenance, unoccupied flats).
Mobility: add more parking spaces, reduce through traffic by installing number plate recognition cameras.
Programme unavailable upon request but propositions taken from this Bx1 debate.
11. Team Fouad Ahidar
List leader: Dankus Ibrahim
Number of candidates on the list: 29
Cleanliness: install underground containers to combat littering, punish litterers severely, install more public toilets, new residents should receive a welcome pack with information on waste management, bulky waste and hygiene in Brussels.
Security and well-being: instead of seeing the police as an entity primarily focused on fines and financial penalties, they should emphasise raising awareness and creating opportunities, collaborate with local stakeholders such as youth workers and street workers, diversify local police force.
Housing: impose price cap on renting and buying housing with clear and identifiable criteria, prioritise access to social housing for single parents and people with disabilities.
The list does not specify priorities per commune; but are taken from proposition for Brussels as a whole and also this Bx1 debate.
14. Liste du Bourgmestre
List leader: Emir Kir (Independent)
Number of candidates on the list: 29
Security: progressive eradication of sex work with focus on human trafficking, build on security policy, including more police at Brussels-North, close down bars with illicit activity, but oppose forced 01:00 bar closure.
Cost of living: help citizens affected by a loss of purchasing power.
Cleanliness: continue street cleaning operations from 06:30 to 20:00, install more street bins, dedicated more hours to cleaning, maintain funding for the first-ever container park, boost waste sorting, install mobile cameras for illegal dumping, oppose underground waste containers.
Mobility: oppose Good Move and regional policy, improve parking to help small business owners, fluid mobility with priority to pedestrians and public transport.
Housing: €1 million a year for renovating private flats thanks to new municipal bonus (adding to regional bonus), requisition flats used for sex work for social housing.
Programme unavailable upon request but propositions taken from this Bx1 debate.
