The Flemish liberal party Open VLD wants Belgians to have a more direct way of choosing the next prime minister in the 2024 elections, Het Nieuwsblad reports. This should, in principle, reduce the length needed to form a Federal Government.
The party takes inspiration from a proposal for Belgium’s municipal elections, which would see the candidate with the most personal votes on the most popular party be the one to form a governing majority. The Flemish liberals want the same change to apply to federal elections, with 20 of the parliament’s seats becoming nationwide constituencies instead of being only elected by the residents of a province.
The candidate on a party list that received the most votes in federal constituencies would be appointed “formateur” and expected to form a coalition within a month. Failure to do so would result in the most popular candidate of the second-largest party being appointed to lead negotiations.
In the event that no government is formed within six months of elections, the country should return to ballot boxes. Open VLD argues that this would reduce the record time taken to form governments. Belgium's protracted coalition negotiations infamously resulted in the country spending more than a year and a half without a majority government on two different occasions.
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Two high-profile Open VLD figures, the Federal Budget Secretary Alexia Bertrand and Flemish Minister Bart Somers, have argued in favour of the change.
For Bertrand, this would allow the Prime Minister to “represent every Belgian, from Arlon to the Flemish coast,” adding that “it does not make sense that only the East Flemish can vote for Alexander De Croo.”
Somers suggested that such a reform could break down the linguistic barriers between Belgian parties and allow residents of other regions to vote for their preferred candidate. He conceded that the party’s current PM De Croo would not have been appointed under this system, but argued that “it would be a very narrow view of democracy to develop a system that suits you.”
