The 2019 Belgian regional elections took place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election[1] as well as the Belgian federal election.[2] [3]
In the regional elections, new representatives were chosen for the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. The Parliament of the French Community was composed of all elected members of the Walloon Parliament (except German-speaking members) and 19 of the French-speaking members of the Brussels Parliament.
The elections followed the 2014 elections and were shortly after the 2018 local elections, which indicated voters' tendencies after an unusually long period of time without any elections in Belgium.
The regional parliaments have limited power over their own election; federal law largely regulates this and the federal government organises the elections, which occur per Article 117 of the Constitution on the same day as the European Parliament elections.
As such, all regional parliaments were elected using proportional representation under the D'Hondt method. Only Belgian citizens in Belgium had the right to vote, and voting was mandatory for them. Belgians living abroad were allowed to vote in European and federal elections, but not in regional elections.
The following timetable is fixed for the simultaneous European, federal and regional elections:
| 26 January 2019 | Start of the "waiting period" (sperperiode) running until the day of the election, during which political propaganda and expenses are strictly regulated | |
| 1 March 2019 | The electoral roll is fixed by municipal authorities | |
| 11 May 2019 | Final day for the official announcement of the election and the convocation letter to voters | |
| 26 May 2019 | Polling day (from 8am until 2pm, or until 4pm where voting is done electronically) |
| Election Name: | 2019 Flemish parliamentary election |
| Country: | Flanders |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2014 Belgian regional elections |
| Previous Year: | 2014 |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the Flemish Parliament, 2014–19 |
| Next Election: | 2024 Belgian regional elections |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Seats For Election: | All 124 seats in the Flemish Parliament |
| Majority Seats: | 63 |
| Turnout: | 92.2% |
| Image1: | File:Bart de wever-1547365715.jpg |
| Leader1: | Bart De Wever |
| Party1: | New Flemish Alliance |
| Leaders Seat1: | Antwerp |
| Last Election1: | 43 seats, 31.9% |
| Seats1: | 35 |
| Seat Change1: | 8 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,052,252 |
| Percentage1: | 24.8% |
| Swing1: | 7.1 pp |
| Leader2: | Filip Dewinter |
| Party2: | Flemish Interest |
| Leaders Seat2: | Antwerp |
| Last Election2: | 6 seats, 5.9% |
| Seats2: | 23 |
| Seat Change2: | 17 |
| Popular Vote2: | 783,977 |
| Percentage2: | 18.5% |
| Swing2: | 12.6 pp |
| Image3: | File:Hilde crevits-1445144080.jpg |
| Leader3: | Hilde Crevits |
| Party3: | Christian Democratic and Flemish |
| Leaders Seat3: | West Flanders |
| Last Election3: | 27 seats, 20.5% |
| Seats3: | 19 |
| Seat Change3: | 8 |
| Popular Vote3: | 652,766 |
| Percentage3: | 15.4% |
| Swing3: | 5.1 pp |
| Party4: | Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats |
| Last Election4: | 19 seats, 14.2% |
| Seats4: | 16 |
| Seat Change4: | 3 |
| Popular Vote4: | 556,630 |
| Percentage4: | 13.1% |
| Swing4: | 1.1 pp |
| Party5: | Socialist Party Differently |
| Last Election5: | 18 seats, 14.0% |
| Seats5: | 13 |
| Seat Change5: | 5 |
| Popular Vote5: | 438,589 |
| Percentage5: | 10.3% |
| Swing5: | 3.7 pp |
| Party6: | Green! |
| Last Election6: | 10 seats, 8.7% |
| Seats6: | 14 |
| Seat Change6: | 4 |
| Popular Vote6: | 428,696 |
| Percentage6: | 10.1% |
| Swing6: | 1.4 pp |
| Flemish Government | |
| Before Election: | Bourgeois Government N-VA–CD&V–Open Vld coalition |
| After Election: | Jambon Government N-VA-CD&V-Open Vld coalition |
| Map Size: | 400 |
124 members of the Flemish Parliament were elected. The five Flemish provinces (West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant and Limburg) each were a constituency, plus the Brussels-Capital Region where those voting for a Dutch-language party could also vote in the Flemish election.
The incumbent Bourgeois Government was made up of a coalition of Flemish nationalists (N-VA), Christian democrats (CD&V) and liberals (Open Vld). The incumbent Minister-President was Geert Bourgeois (N-VA). The three-party centre-right government coalition had a comfortable majority.
In the October 2018 local elections, no major shifts occurred, although N-VA and sp.a lost some support while Vlaams Belang and Groen generally gained votes. CD&V and Open Vld remained stable.
Incumbent Minister-President Bourgois (N-VA) contended in the simultaneous European Parliament elections; N-VA president Bart De Wever (N-VA) was their party's candidate to succeed him as head of the Flemish Government. Minister Hilde Crevits was CD&V's candidate for Minister-President. Open Vld explicitly did not put forward a candidate.
| New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) | Bart De Wever (since 2004) | |||
| Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) | Wouter Beke (since 2010) | |||
| Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld) | Gwendolyn Rutten (since 2012) | |||
| Socialist Party Different (sp.a) | John Crombez (since 2015) | |||
| Green (Groen) | Meyrem Almaci (since 2014) | |||
| Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) | Tom Van Grieken (since 2014) | |||
| Union des Francophones (UF) | ||||
| Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA) | ||||
| Independents | N/A | |||
The following candidates are the first on the respective party list (lijsttrekker) per constituency.
| Party | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CD&V | Koen Van den Heuvel | Joke Schauvliege | Peter Van Rompuy | Lode Ceyssens | Hilde Crevits | Benjamin Dalle | ||
| Groen | Meyrem Almaci | Bjorn Rzoska | An Moerenhout | Johan Daenen | Jeremie Vaneeckhout | Stijn Bex | ||
| N-VA | Bart De Wever | Matthias Diependaele | Ben Weyts | Steven Vandeput | Bert Maertens | Karl Vanlouwe | ||
| Open Vld | Bart Somers | Carina Van Cauter | Gwendolyn Rutten | Lydia Peeters | Bart Tommelein | Else Ampe | ||
| PVDA | Jos D'Haese | Tom De Meester | Sander Vandecapelle | Kim De Witte | Natalie Eggermont | Nele Vandenbempt | ||
| sp.a | Caroline Gennez | Conner Rousseau | Bruno Tobback | Els Robeyns | Annick Lambrecht | Bert Anciaux | ||
| Vlaams Belang | Filip Dewinter | Guy D'haeseleer | Klaas Slootmans | Chris Janssens (politician) | Stefaan Sintobin | Frédéric Erens | ||
| Province | N-VA | VB | CD&V | Open VLD | sp.a | Groen | PVDA | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | % | S | % | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S |
| Antwerp | 31.82 | 12 | 18.46 | 6 | 11.43 | 4 | 10.21 | 3 | 7.93 | 2 | 11.18 | 4 | 6.68 | 2 | |||||||||
| East Flanders | 22.24 | 6 | 20.64 | 6 | 13.48 | 4 | 15.85 | 4 | 10.27 | 3 | 10.52 | 3 | 5.52 | 1 | |||||||||
| Flemish Brabant | 25.78 | 6 | 13.26 | 3 | 13.04 | 3 | 15.61 | 3 | 9.50 | 2 | 12.22 | 3 | 4.61 | 0 | |||||||||
| Limburg | 22.03 | 4 | 20.15 | 3 | 19.20 | 3 | 11.89 | 2 | 13.54 | 2 | 6.71 | 1 | 5.71 | 1 | |||||||||
| West Flanders | 19.67 | 5 | 20.21 | 5 | 23.47 | 5 | 12.34 | 3 | 12.18 | 3 | 7.08 | 1 | 3.43 | 0 | |||||||||
| Brussels | 18.96 | 2 | 8.49 | 0 | 8.42 | 0 | 16.33 | 1 | 13.38 | 1 | 28.03 | 2 | 6.38 | 0 | |||||||||
| Total | 24.83 | 35 | 18.50 | 23 | 15.40 | 19 | 13.13 | 16 | 10.35 | 12 | 10.11 | 14 | 5.32 | 4 | |||||||||
| Source: Federal Public Services Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Election Name: | 2019 Walloon parliamentary election |
| Country: | Wallonia |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2014 Belgian regional elections |
| Previous Year: | 2014 |
| Next Election: | 2024 Belgian regional elections |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
| Seats For Election: | All 75 seats in the Walloon Parliament |
| Majority Seats: | 38 |
| Turnout: | 93.4% |
| Leader1: | Elio Di Rupo |
| Party1: | Socialist Party (francophone Belgium) |
| Last Election1: | 30 seats, 30.9% |
| Seats1: | 23 |
| Seat Change1: | 7 |
| Popular Vote1: | 532,422 |
| Percentage1: | 26.2% |
| Swing1: | 4.7 pp |
| Leader2: | Charles Michel |
| Party2: | Reformist Movement |
| Last Election2: | 25 seats, 26.7% |
| Seats2: | 20 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Popular Vote2: | 435,878 |
| Percentage2: | 21.4% |
| Swing2: | 5.3 pp |
| Leader3: | Jean-Marc Nollet Zakia Khattabi |
| Party3: | Ecolo |
| Last Election3: | 4 seats, 8.6% |
| Seats3: | 12 |
| Seat Change3: | 8 |
| Popular Vote3: | 294,631 |
| Percentage3: | 14.5% |
| Swing3: | 5.9 pp |
| Leader4: | Peter Mertens |
| Party4: | Workers' Party of Belgium |
| Last Election4: | 2 seats, 5.8% |
| Seats4: | 10 |
| Seat Change4: | 8 |
| Popular Vote4: | 278,343 |
| Percentage4: | 13.7% |
| Swing4: | 7.9 pp |
| Leader5: | Maxime Prévot |
| Party5: | Humanist Democratic Centre |
| Last Election5: | 13 seats, 15.2% |
| Seats5: | 10 |
| Seat Change5: | 3 |
| Popular Vote5: | 223,775 |
| Percentage5: | 11.0% |
| Swing5: | 4.2 pp |
| Map Size: | 400 |
| Walloon Government | |
| Before Election: | MR–cdH coalition |
| After Election: | PS–MR–Ecolo coalition |
75 members of the Walloon Parliament were elected. The members were elected in multi-member arrondissement-based constituencies; the Walloon Parliament is the only parliament in Belgium still using this geographical level for constituencies. A January 2018 law however reduced the constituencies from 13 to 11, following a successful challenge by Ecolo to the Constitutional Court that constituencies with too few seats are unrepresentative. Both Luxembourg constituencies were merged and the Hainaut constituencies were redrawn.
After the 2014 elections, a coalition government of the Socialist Party (PS) and Christian democrats (cdH) was formed. In 2017 however, following major scandals involving mainly PS, cdH opted to continue governing with MR as the main party instead of PS. Willy Borsus (MR) succeeded Paul Magnette (PS) as Minister-President of Wallonia in July 2017. This was the first time a government majority changed during a legislative term of a Belgian regional government.[9]
| Political party | Party leader | 2014 seats | Current seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socialist Party (PS) | Elio Di Rupo (since 1999) | ||||
| Reformist Movement (MR) | Charles Michel (since 2019) | ||||
| Humanist Democratic Centre (cdH) | Maxime Prévot (since 2019) | ||||
| Ecolo (Ecolo) | Zakia Khattabi & Patrick Dupriez (since 2015) | ||||
| Workers' Party (PVDA-PTB) | Peter Mertens (since 2008) | ||||
| People's Party (Parti Populaire) | Mischaël Modrikamen (since 2009) | N/A | |||
| Independents | N/A | ||||
| Province | PS | MR | Ecolo | PTB | cdH | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S |
| Hainaut | 33.23 | 11 | 16.97 | 5 | 11.64 | 3 | 15.96 | 5 | 8.78 | 3 | |||||||||
| Liège | 25.47 | 7 | 20.41 | 6 | 15.45 | 4 | 15.34 | 4 | 9.34 | 2 | |||||||||
| Luxembourg | 19.58 | 1 | 25.27 | 2 | 14.74 | 1 | 9.05 | 0 | 22.51 | 2 | |||||||||
| Namur | 23.21 | 3 | 21.97 | 3 | 14.98 | 2 | 12.30 | 1 | 15.40 | 2 | |||||||||
| Walloon Brabant | 14.92 | 1 | 34.04 | 4 | 19.76 | 2 | 7.53 | 0 | 8.43 | 1 | |||||||||
| Total | 26.17 | 23 | 21.42 | 20 | 14.48 | 12 | 13.68 | 10 | 11.00 | 10 | |||||||||
| Source: Federal Public Services Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||
All 89 members of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region were elected. They were elected at-large, but there were separate Dutch-language party lists (electing 17 members) and French-language party lists (electing 72 members). Those voting for a Dutch-language party could also cast a vote for the Flemish Parliament election.
| French language group | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District | PS | Ecolo | MR | DéFI | PTB | cdH | DierAnimal | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S |
| Anderlecht | 32.00 | 15.29 | 15.55 | 8.81 | 19.02 | 7.00 | 1.34 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Brussels | 29.00 | 16.46 | 12.33 | 9.59 | 17.36 | 8.32 | 1.17 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Ixelles | 13.24 | 27.15 | 20.38 | 18.27 | 8.35 | 5.50 | 1.46 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Molenbeek-Saint-Jean | 28.42 | 14.25 | 14.13 | 8.71 | 17.00 | 10.26 | 1.24 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint-Gilles | 25.20 | 27.72 | 9.65 | 6.89 | 19.79 | 4.67 | 1.28 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Saint-Josse-ten-Noode | 14.34 | 18.81 | 22.78 | 21.19 | 6.94 | 8.96 | 1.20 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Schaerbeek | 26.09 | 18.13 | 10.81 | 16.45 | 15.11 | 7.08 | 1.14 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Uccle | 14.96 | 22.72 | 24.13 | 15.13 | 9.27 | 5.75 | 1.72 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 22.03 | 17 | 19.12 | 15 | 16.87 | 13 | 13.81 | 10 | 13.47 | 10 | 7.58 | 6 | 1.32 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Source: Federal Public Services Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dutch language group | |||||||||||||||||
| District | Groen | N-VA | Open VLD | sp.a | VB | CD&V | Agora | PVDA | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | % | S | ||
| Anderlecht | 12.45 | 22.30 | 13.83 | 16.18 | 13.52 | 8.15 | 2.10 | 4.36 | |||||||||
| Brussels | 21.91 | 17.05 | 14.29 | 17.63 | 7.52 | 7.96 | 2.91 | 4.79 | |||||||||
| Ixelles | 27.16 | 15.52 | 17.27 | 12.35 | 5.22 | 6.03 | 9.74 | 3.30 | |||||||||
| Molenbeek-Saint-Jean | 16.17 | 19.99 | 15.14 | 17.85 | 10.61 | 7.95 | 2.03 | 4.19 | |||||||||
| Saint-Gilles | 28.69 | 11.27 | 10.72 | 19.16 | 4.53 | 3.60 | 9.56 | 6.47 | |||||||||
| Saint-Josse-ten-Noode | 22.18 | 17.36 | 21.53 | 9.99 | 6.27 | 9.20 | 7.43 | 0.97 | |||||||||
| Schaerbeek | 23.09 | 16.22 | 14.71 | 13.15 | 7.84 | 6.91 | 7.14 | 5.65 | |||||||||
| Uccle | 23.27 | 17.96 | 17.48 | 13.06 | 5.90 | 6.20 | 8.40 | 3.50 | |||||||||
| Total | 20.61 | 4 | 17.97 | 3 | 15.79 | 3 | 15.06 | 3 | 8.34 | 1 | 7.47 | 1 | 5.18 | 1 | 4.27 | 1 | |
| Source: Federal Public Services Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||
All 25 members of the Parliament of the German-speaking Community were elected in one constituency (at-large).
In the 2014–2019 period, the government was made up of regionalist ProDG, the socialist party and the liberal PFF, headed by Minister-President Oliver Paasch (ProDG).
| Political party | Members | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Social Party (CSP) | |||
| Socialist Party (SP) | |||
| Party for Freedom and Progress (PFF) | |||
| Total | 25 | ||
| District | ProDG | CSP | SP | Vivant | Ecolo | PFF | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S | % | S | % | S | data-sort-type="number" | % | data-sort-type="number" | S |
| Eupen | 22.31 | 24.32 | 16.75 | 9.09 | 11.93 | 12.27 | |||||||||||
| St. Vith | 24.53 | 21.75 | 12.63 | 21.49 | 9.29 | 10.30 | |||||||||||
| Total | 23.33 | 6 | 23.14 | 6 | 14.85 | 4 | 14.81 | 3 | 12.51 | 3 | 11.36 | 3 | |||||
| Source: Federal Public Services Home Affairs | |||||||||||||||||