2006 Belgian local elections

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2006 Belgian local elections
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The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2006 took place on Sunday 8 October 2006. The electors have elected the municipal councillors of 589 cities and towns (308 in the

Brussels-Capital Region) as well as the ten provincial councils. The voters in the town of Antwerp have also been able to vote for the city's district councils. In seven Flemish municipalities with a special language statute (Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel, Wezembeek-Oppem and Voeren) and in the Walloon municipality of Comines-Warneton the aldermen and the members of the OCMW/CPAS
council have also been directly elected.

It was the first municipal and provincial elections since the transfer of the competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces to the regions, also residents without E.U. citizenship could vote for the first time if they had registered to vote. The previous municipal and provincial elections took place on Sunday 8 October 2000.

City and provincial councillors are elected to a six-year term. Newly elected councillors took office in January 2007, with the term ending in 2013.

Points of notice are the result of the governing federal government coalition (liberal/social-democrat) – for whom a bad result could spell defeat in the federal general elections to be held no later than June 2007 – and the result of the Vlaams Belang party in Antwerp and the other Flemish towns.

Organisation

The municipal and provincial elections of 2006 were the first of its kind to be organized by the Regions instead of the federal government. The competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces was transferred from the federation to the Regions by special law of 13 June 2001.

Official logo of the municipal and provincial elections in the Walloon Region
Official logo of the municipal and provincial elections in the Flemish Region

The Flemish minister of the Interior Marino Keulen announced that the results of the elections held in the Flemish Region would be available in real time on the official dedicated government website www.vlaanderenkiest.be.

Municipal elections

These have taken place in

Brussels Capital Region
. The municipal councils were elected by a very rare form of
Imperiali highest averages method
.

The parties presented themselves with lists of candidates. The number of candidates on the list usually was the total number of seats to be taken in the council. Each list received a random number, which was assigned by a lottery. Parties that had representatives in the regional parliaments, could receive a number that is the same in the entire region. Other parties' numbers varied from municipality to municipality. These numbers started after the regional numbers (8 and higher in Flanders, 14 and higher in Brussels, 6 and higher in Wallonia).

The regional list numbers:

Flemish Region[1] Brussels Region[2] Walloon Region
  1. SP.a
  2. VLD
  3. Spirit
  4. N-VA
  5. Groen!
  6. Vlaams Belang
  7. CD&V
  1. PS
  2. MR
  3. Groen!
  4. VLD-Vivant
  5. Vlaams Belang
  6. FDF
  7. CD&V
  8. MCC
  9. Ecolo
  10. Spirit
  11. Front National
  12. CdH
  13. N-VA
  1. Front National
  2. Ecolo
  3. PS
  4. MR
  5. CdH

Provincial elections

These have taken place in Flanders and

Brussels Capital Region
no provincial elections were held as Brussels is not part of any Belgian province, the provincial competences almost entirely being assumed by the Region, the Agglomeration and the Community Commissions.

The list numbers used were the same as for the municipalities.

Polls

Flemish region

Het Laatste Nieuws

The polls conducted by the Stemmenkampioen site of Het Laatste Nieuws and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel,[3] yielded the following overall result for Flanders, compared to the 2004 regional elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):

Party/Alliance 06/2004 (%) 12/2005 (%) 03/2006 (%) 05/2006 (%) 06/2006 (%) 09/2006 (%) diff '04 (%)
N-VA
 26.1 30.9 31.7 30.7 30.6 31.1 +5.0
Vlaams Belang 24.2 26.8 27.4 28.2 28.9 28.2 +4.0
Spirit
 19.7 17.9 17.0 17.3 17.5 17.3 −2.4
VLD – Vivant
 19.8 14.5 14.7 14.5 14.1 14.2 −5.6
Groen!
 7.6 6.6 6.6 6.7 6.5 6.1 −1.5
Others 2.7 3.2 2.7 2.6 2.4 3.1 +0.4

The last poll not taking into account alliances dates from September 2006 and showed these results:[4]

Party Results (%)
Vlaams Belang 28.2
CD&V
 23.3
SP.a 15.9
VLD
 13.6
N-VA
 7.8
Groen!
 6.1
Spirit
 1.4
Vivant 0.6
Others 3.1

Standaard – VRT

The latest poll by

VRT yielded the following overall results for Flanders, compared to the 2004 regional elections
(the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):

Party/Alliance 06/2004 (%) 02/2006 (%) 06/2006 (%) diff '04 (%)
N-VA
 26.1 29.1 29.4 +3.3
Vlaams Belang 24.2 22.5 23.1 −1.1
Spirit
 19.7 20.4 20.7 +1.0
VLD – Vivant
 19.8 18.9 18.2 −1.6
Groen!
 7.6 8.7 7.5 −0.1
Others 2.7 0.4 1.0 −1.7

Antwerp

Poll by the

2000 municipal elections
(the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):

Party 10/2000 (%) 02/2006 (%) diff '00 (%)
Vlaams Belang – VLOTT 33.0 34.2 +1.2
Spirit
 19.5 23.8 +4.3
VLD – Vivant
 18.5 12.9 −5.6
N-VA
 14.2 14.5 +0.3
Groen!
 11.1 8.3 −2.8
Others 3.7 6.3 +2.6

July and September 2006 polls conducted by the Stemmenkampioen site of

2000 municipal elections
(the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):

Party 10/2000 (%) 07/2006 (%) 09/2006 (%) diff '00 (%)
Vlaams Belang – VLOTT 33.0 34.2 38.6 +5.6
Spirit
 19.5 20.2 21.1 +1.6
VLD – Vivant
 18.5 10.2 8.5 −10.0
N-VA
 14.2 19.4 16.6 +2.4
Groen!
 11.1 7.2 6.2 −4.9
Others 3.7 8.8 9.0 −5.3

Walloon Region

A poll conducted by the

2000 municipal elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):[5]

Charleroi

Party 10/2000 (%) 06/2006 (%) diff '00 (%)
Socialist Party
(Parti Socialiste) 		51.4 31.9 −19.5
Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur) 16.1 23.1 +7.0
Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre Démocrate Humaniste) 9.6 14.9 +5.0
Ecolo 11.4 11.0 −0.4
National Front
(Front National) 		6.9 16.5 +9.6

Results

Flanders

Provinces

The provincial elections are the only 2006 elections that allow for a national comparison, since in municipal elections not all parties run in all municipalities.[6]

Party Votes % +/– (2000) Seats +/– (2000)
Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)–New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) 1,231,655 30.6 * 136 *
Flemish Interest (VB) 879,046 20.7 88 Increase 34
Spirit
 785,528 19.6 84 Increase 8
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)–Vivant
 745,952 18.9 80 Decrease 27
Green!
 311,912 7.5 17 Decrease 9
Union of Francophones (UF) 54,733 6 Steady 0
Other parties 57,782 —
Valid votes 4,584,584
Blanco and invalid votes
Total 411
Party Antwerp Province
Antwerp 		East Flanders
East Flanders 		Flemish Brabant
Flemish Brabant 		Limburg (Belgium)
Limburg 		West Flanders
West Flanders 		Total
Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V)–New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) 24 25 25 26 36 136
Flemish Interest (VB) 25 19 15 15 19 88
Spirit
 18 14 14 20 18 84
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)–Vivant
 13 22 17 14 14 80
Green!
 4 4 7 0 2 17
Union of Francophones (UF) − − 6 − − 6

Municipalities

Most important conclusions are that

Spirit puts strong results in cities like Antwerp, Ghent and Ostend
but has mixed results in other places.

Most coalitions before the elections can continue with a stronger backing, most notably in Ghent and Mechelen. An exception to this general 'rule' is Vilvoorde, where former prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene loses his majority.

Antwerp
Party Leader 2000 (%) seats 2000 2006 (%) seats 2006
SPIRIT
*		 Patrick Janssens 19.5 12 35.5 22
Vlaams Belang – VLOTT Filip Dewinter 33.0 20 33.5 20
VLD – Vivant
 Ludo Van Campenhout 18.5 10 9.7 5
N-VA
*		 Philip Heylen 11.1 6 11.2 6
Groen!
 Freya Piryns 11.1 6 4.7 2
VU-ID * 3.1 1 – –
Others 3.9 0 6.2 0
    • In 2001 the VU-ID split up in 2 wings: the centre-right Flemish nationalist NVA, which formed a cartel with the Christian Democratic CD&V and the social-liberal Spirit which formed a cartel with the Socialist SPA.

Bruges

Party Leader Votes % Seats
N-VA
 Patrick Moenaert 32,092 38.86 20
Spirit
 Frank Vandevoorde 20,028 25.25 12
Flemish Interest
 Frank Vanhecke 13,408 16.24 8
Open VLD / Vivant
 Mercedes Van Volcem 9,520 11.53 5
Green!
 Rita Brauwers 5,328 6.45 2
Other parties 2.207 2.67 —
Valid votes 82,583 89.12
Invalid votes 3,776 4.07
Blanco votes 6,310 6.81
Total 92,669 100 47

Ghent

Party Leader Votes % Seats +/–
Spirit
 Daniël Termont 49.265 31.58 17 3 Increase
Open VLD / Vivant
 Sas Van Rouveroij 32,819 21.04 11 0 Steady
Flemish Interest
 Francis Van Den Eynde 28,152 18.05 9 2 Decrease
N-VA
 Filip Van Laecke 24,698 15.83 8 3 Decrease
Green!
 Vera Dua 18,808 12.06 6 2 Increase

Ostend

Party Leader Votes % Seats
Spirit
 Jean Vandecasteele 22,142 45.67 20
Flemish Interest Christian Verougstraete 8,157 16.82 7
Open VLD / Vivant
 Bart Tommelein 7,793 16.07 6
N-VA
 Hilde Veulemans 6,821 14.07 5
Green!
 Wouter De Vriendt 2,893 5.97 1
Other parties 678 1.40 —
Valid votes 48,484
Invalid votes
Blanco votes
Total 39
Notes: The Socialist Party became the winner, under direction of
List Dedecker
.

Districts (Antwerp)

Heavily anticipated were the results for

N-VA
, has already ruled out such a coalition.

Wallonia

Provinces

Municipalities

Namur

In Namur, the

Socialist Party (PS) lost 7.4% of its votes, enough for the local Christian-democrats (cdH), Liberals (MR) and Greens (Ecolo) to start a coalition, breaking with the 30-year Socialist hegemony there. Jacques Etienne of chH will become the new mayor.[7]

Brussels

References

  1. ^ (in Dutch) Traditioneel nummertje Archived 15 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine, De Standaard, 30 August 2006
  2. ^ (in French) Les listes ont leur numéro à Bruxelles Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, La Libre Belgique, 30 August 2006
  3. ^ a b (in Dutch) De Stemmenkampioen Archived 10 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ (in Dutch) Resulaten voor september 2006[permanent dead link], De Stemmenkampioen
  5. ^ (in French) Les socialistes perdraient des plumes Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, La Libre Belgique, 8 June 2006
  6. ^ (in Dutch) Knack Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  7. VRT Nieuws
    . 13 October 2006.

External links

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