2024 Belgian federal election
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 Belgium portal |
Federal elections are scheduled to be held in Belgium on 9 June 2024.[1] The 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives will be elected for a five-year term. European and regional elections are scheduled to take place on the same day.[2]
Electoral system
The 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected in 11 multi-member constituencies, being the ten provinces and Brussels, with between 4 and 24 seats. Seats are allocated using the D'Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of 5% per constituency.
Representatives elected from the five Flemish Region provinces, Antwerp (24), East Flanders (20), Flemish Brabant (15), Limburg (12) and West Flanders (16), automatically belonged to the Dutch-speaking language group in parliament, whereas those elected from the five provinces of Wallonia, Hainaut (17), Liège (14), Luxembourg (4), Namur (7) and Walloon Brabant (5), formed the French-speaking language group. The 16 members elected in Brussels can choose to join either group. Apportionment of seats is done every ten years in accordance with population data, last by royal order in 2022, when Brussels and Namur each gained a seat while Hainaut and Liège lost a seat.[3]
The 60-member Senate is composed of 50 representatives from the regional and community parliaments, plus 10 co-opted senators proportionally divided among parties based on the result of the federal election.
All Belgian citizens aged 18 or over are obligated to participate in the election. Non-Belgian citizens residing in Belgium (regardless of EU citizenship) cannot vote, whereas Belgian citizens living abroad can register to vote.
Voting is done electronically in all 19 Brussels and 9 German-speaking municipalities as well as in 159 Flemish municipalities. Voting is done by paper ballot in 141 Flemish municipalities as well as in all 253 (non-German-speaking) Walloon municipalities.
Timetable
| 9 February | Start of the "waiting period" (sperperiode) running until the day of the election, during which political propaganda and expenses are strictly regulated |
| 1 April | The electoral roll is fixed by municipal authorities |
| 13 April | Deadline for submitting candidate lists |
| TBD | The Parliament is formally dissolved |
| 25 May | Final day for the official announcement of the election and the convocation letter to voters |
| 5 June | Polling day for Belgians residing abroad in the embassies and consular posts |
| 9 June | Polling day (from 8am until 2pm, or until 4pm where voting is done electronically) |
| TBD | Constitutive session of the newly elected Chamber of Representatives |
Parties and leaders
Lead candidates
The following candidates are the first on the respective party list (lijsttrekker / tête de liste) per constituency.
Dutch-speaking constituencies
French-speaking constituencies
Hainaut will interestingly feature three party chairmen (Bouchez for MR, Magnette for PS and Nollet for Ecolo) as well as popular ex-MR ex-minister Crucke for Les Engagés. In Namur, three federal deputy prime ministers will run against each other (Dermagne for PS, Gilkinet for Ecolo and Clarinval for MR).[4]
Retiring incumbents
The following members of the federal parliament are not standing for election in June 2024.
- Patrick Dewael (Open Vld)[6]
- Valerie Van Peel (N-VA)[6]
- Maggie De Block (Open Vld) [6]
- Barbara Creemers (Groen) [citation needed]
- Wouter De Vriendt (Groen) [citation needed]
- Kristof Calvo (Groen), though he later announced he will support the Ecolo list in Hainaut, without aiming to be elected[7]
- Meryame Kitir (Vooruit) [citation needed]
- Jessika Soors (Groen)
Opinion polls
Flanders
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Wallonia
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Brussels
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References
- ^ "Quand auront lieu les prochaines elections". IBZ Elections. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ Belga (17 May 2023). "Kogel is door de kerk: op zondag 9 juni 2024 trekken we naar de stembus". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 May 2023.
- ^ "Brussel krijgt extra volksvertegenwoordiger bij verkiezingen 2024". BRUZZ. 23 November 2022.
- ^ "Ces combats qui vont animer les élections du 9 juin". L'Echo. 13 January 2024.
- ^ "EXCLUSIEF. N-VA wil in Wallonië opkomen". Het Laatste Nieuws. 2023-12-02. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ^ a b c "Deze politici kondigden al aan dat ze niet terugkeren in het Parlement". De Standaard. 21 April 2023.
- ^ "Kristof Calvo (Groen) wordt lijstduwer van zusterpartij Ecolo in Henegouwen: "Ik ambieer geen zetel"". VRT NWS. 22 January 2024.
