In the space of 24 hours, far-right Flemish party Vlaams Belang put forward and then retracted a convicted Holocaust denier's candidacy in the upcoming municipal elections on 13 October.
Roland Raes, the 90-year-old co-founder of Vlaams Belang's predecessor Vlaams Blok, was listed as the party's 27th – last – candidate for local elections in Aalter, East Flanders on Wednesday. The party retracted his name following fierce criticism for listing a candidate who was convicted of Holocaust denial in 2010.
Vlaams Blok were banned on 9 November 2004 for breaching Belgium's anti-racism laws, with the party dissolving and then reforming as Vlaams Belang a few days after the ruling.
"He was given a symbolic place, out of respect, because he remains one of the founders of Vlaams Blok," a party spokesperson told De Standaard. "He has been living here with his wife in a nursing home for a few months and offered to be on our list himself."
'Dare to doubt' the figures
Ries' name has since been retracted although it remains on the Aalter list on Vlaams Belang's website. "I wanted to leave the past behind me," he stated in a press release. "I made statements 23 years ago that I no longer stand behind today. I hoped that I could leave this chapter behind me, but apparently that is not the case."
Roland Raes. Credit: Belga
Raes was charged for Holocaust denial in 2010 following an interview with TV channel Netwerk in which he questioned the veracity of Anne Frank's diary, the true intention of assassinating Jewish people during the Holocaust and the nature of life in Nazi concentration camps where over six million Jewish people, Roma people, disabled people and other oppressed minorities were executed.
"The persecution and deportation [of Jews] was systematic. But whether it was planned that they would all die during the war is another matter," Raes said in the 2001 interview, adding that the number of deaths was "constantly disputed" and that he "dared to doubt" the amount of people who had died in gas chambers.
Vlaams Belang 'shows its true colours'
Raes' appearance on the local election list has reinforced the belief that Vlaams Belang is too extremist to govern with.
Ahead of elections on 9 June, there were concerns that Flemish right-wing party N-VA would consider them as coalition partners despite a cordon sanitaire in place since the 1980s. While some party members are more ambivalent than others, opposition to a partnership idea remains strong elsewhere.
"By putting convicted Holocaust denier Roeland Raes on a list, Vlaams Belang has once again shown its true colours," N-VA MP Michael Freilich posted on social media.
In Belgium, it has been illegal to publicly deny the Holocaust and other Nazi war crimes since 1995. In March, former Vlaams Belang MP Dries Van Langenhove was convicted for negationism, and the party's other links to Nazi ideology have been well documented by Belgian media.
