The heart of Europe also voted this Sunday. While The Netherlands held its European elections on Thursday; Ireland and Czech Republic, on Friday; and Latvia, Malta, Slovakia and Italy, on Saturday, Sunday June 9 is the turn of most of the countries that make up the European Unionropeafrom Germany to Sweden, also passing through Spain and the country that houses most of the European institutions.

Of the 720 deputies who will enter the European Parliament After the elections that end this Sunday, the Belgians choose 22. And unlike how Spain does it, which votes in a single constituency, in Belgium there are three electoral districts in the European elections, based on their linguistic communities: 13 seats are elected by the Flemish community; eight, the French-speaking one; and the last one in the German-speaking region.

Furthermore, Belgium celebrates, at the same time, federal and regional elections: quite a democratic combo. However, all of them take place at a time of deep divisions in the country and with an increase in discontent among voters, which translates into numerous polls placing Vlaams Belang (Flemish Belonging), far-right nationalist, as the first political force. In fact, the polls were pretty close to the results, and the prime minister announced his resignation after bad data.

According to the last Cluster17 survey for RTLthe Vlaams Belgan was expected to be the most voted party (27.2%) in the Flanders region, ten points ahead of the second (also on the right). In the French-speaking region, the center-right party MR would remain in first position, about two points behind the radical left party PTB. The results have been the following, according to provisional data provided by the European Parliament:

  • VB – Vlaams Belang – 13.96%
  • M.R. – Mouvement Réformateur – 13.55%
  • N-VA – Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie – 13.43%
  • CD&V – Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams – 8.01%
  • PS – Parti Socialiste – 8.00%
  • Vooruit – Vooruit – 7.63%
  • PTB – Parti du Travail de Belgique – 5.98%
  • Groen – Groen– 5.95%
  • Les Engagés – Les Engagés- 5.57%
  • Open VLD – Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten – 5.48%

With these results, the distribution of Belgian deputies will be as follows: both the S&D group, the EPP and Renew Europe will take four seats each; Three deputies leave for the Conservatives and Reformists, the same as for Identity and Democracy (ID). Two deputies each go to the Greens and the Left groups.

Who won the European elections in 2019?

In the last European elections, Belgium elected one less deputy (21), and the largest number of deputies chosen on Belgian soil were from the right and extreme right. The distribution of seats, by region, was as follows.

2019 result in the Flemish electoral district

  • New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) – 3 seats
  • Vlaams Belang – 3 seats
  • Flemish Liberals and Democrats – 2 seats
  • Flamento Christian Democratic Party – 2 seats
  • Groen – 1 seat
  • Different Socialist Party – 1 seat

    2019 result in the French-speaking electoral district

    • Socialist Party – 2 seats
    • Ecolo – 2 seats
    • Reform Movement (MR) – 2 seats
    • Belgian Labor Party – 1 seat
    • Humanist Democratic Center – 1 seat

      2019 result in the German-speaking electoral district

      • Christlich Soziale Partei (CSP) – 1 seat