Municipal elections in Belgium: the green breakthrough

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Mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, head of the N-VA (Flemish nationalists) party celebrates the victory in the local elections, in Antwerp, on October 14, 2018. In Antwerp, environmentalists ranked in 2nd position behind the N-VA list. DIRK WAEM / BELGA / AFP

Some 8 million voters were called to the polls this Sunday, October 14 in Belgium for municipal and provincial elections. A first electoral test for the center-right government, made up of liberals and the N-VA, the Flemish nationalist party. Ecologists made a breakthrough. In Brussels, the Ecolo-Groen party, which came in second behind the PS, and in Antwerp (north), the largest city in the country, ecologists ranked second behind the N-VA (Flemish nationalists) list. But throughout the Dutch-speaking North, the N-VA retains its dominant position.

With our Brussels correspondent Joana Hostein

The surprise came from the ecologists who made a real breakthrough in the municipal elections. In Brussels especially, but also in Wallonia, in the south of the country. The Green Party has come first in a number of communes in the Brussels region, municipalities that should therefore be administered by an ecologist mayor.

The climate emergency has been in the news in recent months, say the commentators. There are also repeated scandals related to the fraudulent management of public funds in the Socialist Party in particular. The Reform Movement, the party of Prime Minister Charles Michel, is also paying the price for this green wave.

In Flanders, in the north of the country, and in Antwerp in particular, the ecologist party also has a good score. But not enough to destabilize the ruling coalition. The N-VA, the neo-Flemish alliance, remains master of the game. And Bart de Wever, the president of the Flemish Nationalist Party, should be able to retain its mayor's seat in Antwerp, contrary to what the polls have indicated.