Belgian local elections, 2018

Belgian local elections, 2018

14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)

The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2018 will take place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions:

• Brussels with 19 municipalities
• Flanders with 5 provinces and 308 municipalities
  • In the city of Antwerp, elections will also be held for its districts
• Wallonia with 5 provinces and 262 municipalities

In the municipalities with language facilities of Voeren, Comines-Warneton and the 6 of the Brussels Periphery, the aldermen and members of the OCMW/CPAS council are directly elected.

Background

Although the laws governing local elections differ per region (Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) and per level (provinces, municipalities, districts and OCMW/CPAS), they are all similar, with all of the elections being held on the same second Sunday of October for a six-year term.

Between the 2012 and 2018 local elections, elections were only held in May 2014 (European, federal and regional), giving an unusually long period without elections in Belgium. The next European, federal and regional elections would be held somewhere in May-June 2019, only a few months after the October 2018 local elections.

Parties

National political parties are mostly separated by language community. A lot of municipalities have local parties as well as a presence of national parties. Here are the most important national parties:

• Dutch-speaking parties, generally contending in Flanders and Brussels: N-VA (nationalist), CD&V (Christian democrats), sp.a (socialists), Open VLD (liberals), Groen (ecologists), Vlaams Belang (far-right), PvdA (Marxist)
• French-speaking parties, generally contending in Wallonia and Brussels: PS (socialists), MR (liberals), DéFI (regionalists/liberals), CdH (Christian democrats), Ecolo (ecologists), PTB (Marxist)
• German-speaking parties, generally contending in several German-speaking municipalities in Wallonia

Brussels

The municipal councils in the 19 municipalities will be elected.

Flanders

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, East Flanders, West Flanders and Limburg will be elected. The Flemish Government intends to reduce the total number of provincial councillors from 351 to 175. Councillors are elected for a six-year term, starting on the first working day in December following the elections, thus 3 December 2018.

Municipal elections

The municipal councils in the 308 municipalities will be elected. In each municipality, 7 to 55 councillors will be elected at-large depending on the population as of 1 January 2018. Councillors are elected for a six-year term, starting on the first working day in January following the elections, thus 1 January 2019.

Aalst

Aalst (in East Flanders) is governed by a coalition of N-VA, CD&V and SD&P (a local social democratic party who split from sp.a, who no longer wished to support the coalition). Mayor is Christoph D'Haese (N-VA). Ilse Uyttersprot has announced that she would challenge Christoph D'Haese for mayor. Largest opposition party is Open Vld, who put forth Jean-Jacques De Gucht as main candidate.^[1]

• Split from Socialist Party Differently

Antwerp

Antwerp (in Antwerp) is governed by a coalition of N-VA, CD&V and Open Vld. Incumbent mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) is expected to run for a second term. CD&V will not form a joint list with sp.a as they did in the 2012 elections. Sp.a, which was previously in power for decades, is the largest opposition party in the 2013-2018 term. On 17 November 2016, CD&V announced that Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters will move from Puurs to Antwerp to be their main candidate. This will pit two of the most popular politicians against each other in the biggest city of Flanders. Secretary of State Philippe De Backer will be Open Vld's main candidate, whereas Filip Dewinter will again be the candidate of Vlaams Belang.

A March 2017 poll gave 29.3% for N-VA (down from 37.7% in 2012), 20.1% for Groen (up from 7.9% in 2012), 14.1% for CD&V, 13.1% for sp.a, 9.6% for Vlaams Belang, 8.3% for PVDA and 5.5 for Open Vld.^[2]

Bruges

Bruges (in West Flanders) is governed by a coalition of sp.a and CD&V, led by mayor Renaat Landuyt (sp.a). The largest opposition party is N-VA; Pol Van Den Driessche will be its main candidate.

Ghent

Ghent (in East Flanders) is governed by a coalition of sp.a-Groen and Open Vld. Daniël Termont (sp.a), mayor since 2006, announced he will step down at the end of the term. Tom Balthazar was selected to replace him as main candidate of sp.a, again in electoral alliance with Groen, but he resigned in February 2017 following the "Publipart scandal.^[3] Rudy Coddens replaced him in February 2017.

Sarah Claerhout was selected to be CD&V's candidate, but she also resigned for a different reason. Former director of the Flemish Catholic education Mieke Van Hecke will stand for CD&V instead.

Mathias De Clercq will remain the main candidate of Open Vld. Elke Sleurs quit as Secretary of State in order to be N-VA's candidate.

A March 2017 poll gave 38.8% for sp.a-Groen (down from 45.5%), 22.5% for Open Vld (up from 16.5%) and little change for N-VA, CD&V and Vlaams Belang.^[4]

Hasselt

Hasselt (in Limburg) is governed by a coalition of sp.a-Groen and CD&V. In 2016, Hilde Claes (sp.a) was forced to step down as mayor and was replaced by Nadja Vananroye (CD&V). N-VA is the largest opposition party.

Kortrijk

Vincent Van Quickenborne is the incumbent mayor of Kortrijk (in West Flanders), with a coalition of Open Vld, N-VA and sp.a.

Leuven

Leuven (in Flemish Brabant) is governed by a coalition of sp.a and CD&V. Louis Tobback (sp.a), mayor since 1995, announced he will step down at the end of the term. Mohamed Ridouani will replace him as main candidate of sp.a. The largest opposition parties are N-VA and Groen. CD&V's main candidate will be Carl Devlies, first alderman in Leuven, while N-VA's main candidate will be Lorin Parys, member of the Flemish Parliament.

Mechelen

Mechelen (in Antwerp) is governed by a coalition of Vld-Groen-m+, N-VA and CD&V, headed by mayor Bart Somers (Open Vld). The opposition parties are sp.a and Vlaams Belang.

Ostend

Incumbent mayor and Minister of State Johan Vande Lanotte (sp.a) announced he wants to run with a "citizens' movement". Flemish Minister Bart Tommelein (Open Vld) wants to challenge him as mayor.^[5]

• Johan Vande Lanotte will not run for sp.a but for a "citizens' movement". It is likely that sp.a won't run a separate list/candidate (not confirmed yet).

TBA = To be announced

Wallonia

Provincial elections

The provincial councils of Namur, Walloon Brabant, Liège, Hainaut and Luxembourg will be elected.

Municipal elections

The municipal councils in the 262 municipalities will be elected. In each municipality, 7 to 55 councillors will be elected at-large depending on the population as of 1 January 2018. Councillors are elected for a six-year term, starting on the first Monday in December following the elections, thus 3 December 2018.

References

Elections and referendums in Belgium (list)
General/federal elections	1830 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1848 1850 1851 1852 1854 1855 1856 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1867 1868 1870 (Jun) 1870 (Aug) 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1919 1921 1925 1929 1932 1936 1939 1946 1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2010 2014 Next
Regional elections	1974 1977 1978 1981 1986 1989 1990 1995 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Provincial elections	1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018
Municipal elections	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1950