Belgian municipal elections, 2006

The Belgian municipal elections, 2006 took place on Sunday October 8, 2006. The electors have elected the municipal counsellors of 589 cities and towns (308 in the Flemish Region, 262 in the Walloon Region and 19 in the Brussels-Capital Region) as well as the ten provincial councils. The voters in the town of Antwerp have also been able to vote for the city's district councils. In seven Flemish municipalities with a special language statute (Drogenbos, Kraainem, Linkebeek, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Wemmel, Wezembeek-Oppem and Voeren) and in the Walloon municipality of Comines-Warneton the aldermen and the members of the OCMW council have also been directly elected.

It was the first municipal and provincial elections since the transfer of the competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces to the regions, also residents without E.U. citizenship could vote for the first time if they had registered to vote. The previous municipal and provincial elections took place on Sunday October 8, 2000.

City and provincial councillors are elected to a six year term. Newly elected councillors will take office in January 2007, with a term ending in 2013.

Points of notice are the result of the governing federal government coalition (liberal/social-democrat) - for whom a bad result could spell defeat in the Federal general elections to be held no later than June 2007 - and the result of the Vlaams Belang party in Antwerp and the other Flemish towns.

Organisation

The municipal and provincial elections of 2006 were the first of its kind to be organized by the Regions instead of the federal government. The competence with regards to the municipalities and provinces was transferred from the federation to the Regions by special law of 13 June 2001.

The Flemish minister of the interior Marino Keulen announced that the results of the elections held in the Flemish Region would be available in real time on the official dedicated government website [http://www.vlaanderenkiest.be/ www.vlaanderenkiest.be] .

Municipal elections

These have taken place in Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels Capital Region.The municipal councils were elected by a very rare form of Party-list proportional representation, the Imperiali highest averages method.

The parties presented themselves with lists of candidates. The number of candidates on the list usually was the total number of seats to be taken in the council. Each list received a random number, which was assigned by a lottery. Parties that had representatives in the regional parliaments, could receive a number that is the same in the entire region. Other parties' numbers varied from municipality to municipality. These numbers started after the regional numbers (8 and higher in Flanders, 14 and higher in Brussels, 6 and higher in Wallonia).

The regional list numbers :

tandaard - VRT

The latest poll by De Standaard and VRT yielded the following overall results for Flanders, compared to the 2004 regional elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result):

=Walloon Region=

A poll conducted by the RTBF and the Sud Presse in June 2006 showed the following results, compared to the 2000 municipal elections (the last column displays the difference between the latest polls and that result): [fr icon [http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=10&subid=90&art_id=290358 Les socialistes perdraient des plumes] , La Libre Belgique, 8 June 2006]

Charleroi

** In 2001 the VU-ID split up in 2 wings: the centre-right flemish nationalist NVA, which formed a cartel with the Christian Democratic CD&V and the social-liberal Spirit which formed a cartel with the Socialist SPA.

Ostend

In Ostend, the Socialist Party became the winners, under direction of Johan Vande Lanotte. Jean-Marie Dedecker, was a local candidate for the VLD, who in the run-up to the elections clashed severely with Vande Lanotte. Dedecker has since been ejected by the VLD and has formed his own party Lijst Dedecker .

Districts (Antwerp)

Heavily anticipated were the results for Merksem, Deurne and Hoboken, where it was believed Vlaams Belang could obtain an absolute majority. This however did not turn out to be the case, even though the party does advance in all but two districts (Antwerp and Borgerhout). Most notably, in Hoboken a majority without Vlaams Belang will only be possible by including the extreme left PVDA, although another party, N-VA, has already ruled out such a coalition.

Wallonia

Provinces

Municipalities

Namur

In Namur, the capital of Wallonia, the Socialist Party (PS) lost 7.4% of its votes, enough for the local Christian-democrats (cdH), Liberals (MR) and Greens (Ecolo) to start a coalition, breaking with the 30-year Socialist hegemony there. Jacques Etienne of chH will become the new mayor. [cite news|title=Socialists ousted in Namur|url=http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/versie2/english/details/061013_namur/index.shtml|publisher=VRT Nieuws|date=2006-10-13]

Brussels

External links

*nl icon [http://www.vlaanderenkiest.be/ Flanders Official dedicated government website]
*fr icon [http://elections2006.wallonie.be/ Walloon Official dedicated government website]
*nl icon [http://www.pixagogo.com/8026945922 De verkiezingswedstrijd - Electoral posters]
*fr icon [http://tractotheque.blogspot.com/search/label/Belgique%202006 Tractothèque 2006 - Electoral posters and leaflets]

References