Europe Votes: Belgium,  Far-right makes huge gains

 

The far-right Vlaams Belang made a huge win in Belgium, offsetting losses by parties in Prime Minister Charles Michel’s outgoing government coalition.

In the northern, Dutch-speaking Flanders region, provisional results put the far-right party on track to finish second with about 20 percent of the vote — a surge of over 14 percentage points. The right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) would remain the largest party in Belgium with around 28 percent of the Flemish votes, a drop of almost 5 percentage points.

In the southern, French-speaking part of the country, Wallonia, early results suggest Michel’s Reformist Movement (MR) is neck-and-neck with the previously dominant Socialist Party to become the largest at around 23-24 percent, followed closely by the Green party at 21 percent.

In Brussels, the Flemish and French-speaking Greens are jointly expected to become the largest group.

The far-left Workers’ Party is set to win big across the country too, winning around 8 percent of votes nationally.

Michel’s coalition partners faced electoral losses. The Flemish Christian democrat party CD&V and Flemish liberal party Open VLD are on course to lose 3.5 and 1.5 percentage points respectively, finishing at 15 percent and 14 percent.

Via Politico