Belgian Politics & Elections: Federal, regional & EP elections on June 9, 2024

[Zinneke]

He's resigned but been given a cushy position on the Constitutional Court of Belgium...the revolving door of Belgian politics in a nutshell.

[Zinneke]

Another staggering episode in the saga today. Thanks to the MR's party structures giving the President of the party (as opposed to other ministers) control over ministerial selections, Bouchez selected a Councillor from a small village Ham-Sur-Heure in his region, Adrien Dolimont, who many already say inherited the position thanks to his grandfathers connections in the village. Not only that, him leaving the position to become a Walloon minister would mean that his replacement would be non other than Bouchez's girlfiriend, prompting a rare twitter storm in francophone belgian politics before the press conference began, with accusations of nepotism. Bouchez was forced to rule out his girlfriend (whose sister he placed at the head of the national lottery despite being 27 with 1 job on her CV) from acceded to the vacant position in Ham-Sur-Heure, calling the questions over the selection "undignified" and accusing the Belgian press of sexism for making "relationships that are of a personal nature an obstacle to democracy"...

A good time to plug this excellent twitter account that cites the dynastical nature of Belgian politics :

https://twitter.com/Dynastiespol

[Continential]

"Genocide" most often means, in the present, "mass killing of people I want to highlight for political points and/or to make myself feel good/bad".
If the term is taken to mean any large killing of people for any reason it becomes utterly useless.
But that is what overuse of terminology results in anyway...
"Genocide" and "mass killing" are not necessarily synonyms. It is fine for there to be a legal definition that courts can use. But abusing that definition for sake of political football is clownish behavior that somehow seems to be in vogue these days.
And something isn't suddenly OK just because it isn't a genocide.

I don't use the terms ''genocide'' lightly, but there is ample evidence what is going on in Xinjiang is a genocide. There was a recent independent court decision that set out the argument that while no mass killings were going on, the sterilisation policies and systematic eradication of Uyghur culture constituted a genocide. Mass killings are indeed "worse" in terms of optics

I'm sure if i set up a poll in individual politics: which is worse: The Indonesian Mass Killings or the Uyghur Genocide, a majority of people would vote for the latter. Obviously both are bad, but this forum continues to baffle me lately.

This post aged well
https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=478030.0

[LAKISYLVANIA]

"Genocide" most often means, in the present, "mass killing of people I want to highlight for political points and/or to make myself feel good/bad".
If the term is taken to mean any large killing of people for any reason it becomes utterly useless.
But that is what overuse of terminology results in anyway...
"Genocide" and "mass killing" are not necessarily synonyms. It is fine for there to be a legal definition that courts can use. But abusing that definition for sake of political football is clownish behavior that somehow seems to be in vogue these days.
And something isn't suddenly OK just because it isn't a genocide.

I don't use the terms ''genocide'' lightly, but there is ample evidence what is going on in Xinjiang is a genocide. There was a recent independent court decision that set out the argument that while no mass killings were going on, the sterilisation policies and systematic eradication of Uyghur culture constituted a genocide. Mass killings are indeed "worse" in terms of optics

I'm sure if i set up a poll in individual politics: which is worse: The Indonesian Mass Killings or the Uyghur Genocide, a majority of people would vote for the latter. Obviously both are bad, but this forum continues to baffle me lately.

This post aged well
https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=478030.0

Well at least some people are sane, but i want to wait for more votes because perhaps other people have to vote too.

[Zinneke]

The Vivaldi --> Nazbol transition in 2024 is well on course. We are the champions of inflation in Europe thanks to sh**tty energy bills.

I personally will never vote Ecolo-Groen again until they apologise after they vetoed the idea of reducing VAT on energy based on the argument that people must reduce consumption. It's not so much the idea as the tone deafness of Energy minister Van Der Straeten...as if we all turn our thermostat up to 40 degrees when the bills are cheaper.

These people deserve Vlaams Belang and PTB.

[DavidB.]

Is there election result data on a level lower than municipalities (ideally precincts) for the last Belgian local/federal elections?

When do our Belgian posters expect the Covid passport to be abolished? Apparently there will be changes on March 1st that will cause people who weren't vaccinated in the last 5 months (i.e. mostly young people who didn't receive a "booster") to lose their access to restaurants etc. Will this actually happen or will it be abolished beforehand?

[Zinneke]

Is there election result data on a level lower than municipalities (ideally precincts) for the last Belgian local/federal elections?

I'll have to further investigate but that's a thing I've found to be lacking in Belgium compared to the Netherlands. I believe it's because of the controversial nature of population censuses compared to there.

I've seen district level data on the francophone/Flemish census in the Periphery back when that was if importance but it's out of date.

When do our Belgian posters expect the Covid passport to be abolished? Apparently there will be changes on March 1st that will cause people who weren't vaccinated in the last 5 months (i.e. mostly young people who didn't receive a "booster") to lose their access to restaurants etc. Will this actually happen or will it be abolished beforehand?

Another ridiculous law. But yes, I  and many others will have to get our third jab despite the wave being over. The CST is projected to end in June I believe, and so far only MR's president is even talking about scrapping it early despite now clear evidence it does nothing to stop the spread. ECOLO are also for measure relaxations but mostly none concerning the CST.


The main force behind stricter measures is the Health Minister Vandenbroucke (Vooruit/spa veteran - also known for burning 200k in his back garden back in the day) and De Croo to a lesser extent. Thanks to them we also have this crazy traffic light system that would have only made sense a year ago but is now coming into effect just as people are worn out with measure changes and restrictions in general.

The changing of the goalposts re : the CST in general has been an indicator of how dishonestly governments in Europe treat their citizens and have had tunnel vision throughout the crisis.

 

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Is there election result data on a level lower than municipalities (ideally precincts) for the last Belgian local/federal elections?

When do our Belgian posters expect the Covid passport to be abolished? Apparently there will be changes on March 1st that will cause people who weren't vaccinated in the last 5 months (i.e. mostly young people who didn't receive a "booster") to lose their access to restaurants etc. Will this actually happen or will it be abolished beforehand?

I don't think so

For Flanders you can find data on all the elections here but it doesn't cover a level lower than municipilaties or in case of larger elections election districts.

https://www.vlaanderen.be/uitslagen-van-verkiezingen-in-belgie

[Astatine]

https://twitter.com/ziontree/status/1498081319623999488

Surprise, surprise.

[PSOL]

looooooooooooooooool

[Zinneke]

I don't think Tinne is a Gazprom asset. I think she is just incredibly naive and epitomizes the kind of ecologist I have now grown to hate, one that doesn't understand that her own ecology is a form of privilege and fulfills in that sense all the tropes the right-wing would like to have about Green parties.

She should probably resign now, but let's also remember that N-VA and MR had their chance to overturn the nuclear exit when they entered federal government and did not. Because, surprise surprise, the real ones who stand to gain from gas becoming our only source of consistent energy are people like Valentine Delwaert, who sits of the board of gas infrastructure company Fluxys and negotiated the federal government accords on behalf of MR. Or the many MR, PS, cdH and co politicians who sit on the boards of intercommunales, that rake in 40% of the energy costs to "administer" the energy, which largely consists of organising meetings to talk extensively about a comittee to study the extent of this administration, all on the taxpayers expense.

Tinne, Nollet, Gilkinet, Maron...they are all just extremely useful idiots that will carry the can for our energy bills becoming unaffordable. The real corruption lies beyond these people. Its embedded in the very fabric of the Belgian state apparatus.

[DavidB.]

Covid passport gone from Monday onwards. Though it's "shelved" and not indefinitely abolished.

[Zinneke]

cdh have changed their name to Les Engagés.

[Leading Political Consultant Ma Anand Sheela]

cdh have changed their name to Les Engagés.

Pathetic really.

[Zinneke]

cdh have changed their name to Les Engagés.

Pathetic really.

I was struggling to find a translation, but wiki has helped me with "The Comitted". Dual meaning of course. One is that you have to be mightily committed politically to still be a part of this anachronistic, sinking ship of a party. And two, you are also likely to have to be committed to some form of mental health institution to think Maxime Prévot is the Belgian Macron.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

New poll



Flanders



Wallonia



Brussels



https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1507465616604626944

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1507459959470002185

[LAKISYLVANIA]

cdh have changed their name to Les Engagés.

Pathetic really.

I was struggling to find a translation, but wiki has helped me with "The Comitted". Dual meaning of course. One is that you have to be mightily committed politically to still be a part of this anachronistic, sinking ship of a party. And two, you are also likely to have to be committed to some form of mental health institution to think Maxime Prévot is the Belgian Macron.

Well i confused with the French web-series Les engagès and internationally that web-series is translated to WOKE.

Les Engagés is set in the milieu of LGBT activists in Lyon 2 and chronicles the lives of activists from Point G, a fictional gay and lesbian center located on the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse . Internationally, the series is distributed under the title Woke 3 .

I thought "the commited" was the right translation but "the engaged" is a possibility too. It is somewhat confusing. Either way, it's a dying political party that has a hard time continuing to stay relevant, which is usually when political parties opt for name changes.

[Zinneke]

We are incidentally, likely to see MR change their name soon.

[DavidB.]

What is the reason VB seem to be losing a bit of support to the N-VA again? Russia? People forgetting how the N-VA governed federally? Immigration/multicultural issues and Flemish nationalist issues not being high on the agenda right now? Or is it just a regular polling fluke?

And who, exactly, does Conner Rousseau appeal to, and why?

We are incidentally, likely to see MR change their name soon.

These name changes are a real plague.

[Zinneke]

Rousseau appeals to Zoomers because he goes on celebrity tv, uses tiktok, and even my gf who knows nothing about Belgian politics would be dtf. He also appeals because he doesn't have much of a filter. I think his only major mistake other than the name change is appointing such a divisive figure in Vandenbroucke as health secretary. Rousseau is both a straight talking real reformist and able to strike deals with other parties. But he's still an apparatchik don't get me wrong.

But most of all this bump is down to groen and Tinne the Energy Minister bungling the Energy crisis. Vooruit have been campaigning hard to scrap VAT on energy

[Zinneke]

What is the reason VB seem to be losing a bit of support to the N-VA again? Russia? People forgetting how the N-VA governed federally? Immigration/multicultural issues and Flemish nationalist issues not being high on the agenda right now? Or is it just a regular polling fluke?

I think regular polling fluke, with maybe a bit of Russia coming in. I doubt VB voters understand the subtleties, and I don't mean that they are dumber (well most are) : many of VBs non hardcore casual voters vote against our political class and don't care about VBs links with Russia's far right internationale

[Zinneke]

Wilmes has withdrawn from her role as Foreign Secretary because her husband is terminally ill.

Her party have caused a bit of a storm by violating the (famously ultra-strict) cordon sanitaire by debating Vlaams Belang on Flemish TV. Historically in Francophone Belgium there is a pact between democratic parties to not only reject any coalition with the far right but to boycott any media attempt to include them in the debate. Georges-Louis Bouchez, whose entire ethos is "how can I provoke attention to a° boost my image and b) distract from the fact that my party are a bunch of nepotistic reactionaries posing as Macronista liberals", decided to debate Tom Van Grieken, leader of VB on Flemish tv about the French election* which prompted all the other Francophone parties to co-sign a letter demanding clarification.

Another big issue grabbing headlines in Flanders is the Sanda Dia case re-emerging. Dia was a student at KU Leuven who joined a notoriously elitist fraternity with a particularly brutal hazing. The group tortured Dia and 2 others for 30 hours and made them drink fish oil blended with a mouse carcas. The case itself attract a lot of attention because the Reuzegom fraternity makes Bullingdon look positively plebian given the case itself had to be rejected from Antwerp courts and transferred to Limburg because an accused was the son of a magistrate and not a single other prosecutor was not in some way connected. I'll let anyone interested go down the rabbit hole but safe to say N-VA employing one of the accused as a European Parliament assistant is not good optics for a party already struggling with its elitist image.

* this country is incidentally, obsessed with the French election to an obscene manner, especially in Francophone Belgium : name recognition of French politicians in considerably higher amongst Francophone Belgians than their own elected officials. Mostly because the personalist reality TV sh**tshow of French politics sells better than the kool aid the Belgian politicians sell.

[Zinneke]

Rousseau, leader of Vooruit, using the old trope that he "doesn't feel like I'm in Belgium when I go through Molenbeek"...a typically ignorant comment given Molenbeek has changed drastically since the terror attacks and one.brussels (Vooruit's branch in Brussels) gets many votes with the Flemish hipster crowd moving there.

Anyway it's clearly winking at a possible N-VA/vooruit coalition soon.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2022/04/26/_when-i-drive-through-molenbeek-i-dont-feel-im-in-belgium/

They want the Danish coalition or be like the Danish socdems.

I'm going to tell you.

He's a fake socialist. I vote for real socialists that respect people of different colours and don't resort to far-right populism while calling far-left politics populism

If that is extremist to you, call me an extremist

But i don't vote for faux socialists.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

New poll for Flanders.

•Right after this poll in which CD&V reaches a record low, the party leader Joachim Coens has resigned

•Bad for Open VLD, it thought claiming the premiership would benefit them

•the combined left (Vooruit, GROEN, PVDA) is at 34%; best since WW2

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1522678152090341376

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1522682154286735363