Vote for change?

The Belgian voters had some surprises in store during yesterday's parliamentary elections. It was widely expected that the parties making up the disastrous government of prime minister Guy Verhofstadt would lose. And lose they did, except for the liberal MR. That's a first discrepancy. While the Flemish voted for the opposition and against the government, the French-speakers dealt a mild rebuke to the scandal-plagued PS and made the MR the biggest party in Wallonia.

Second discrepancy: Sp.a lost 7.2% and felt it was a devastating defeat, mainly because they hadn't expected it. Sp.a chairman Johan Vande Lanotte announced his resignation and declared that the party would not join a new government. Verhofstadt's Open VLD lost 6.6%, a little less than expected, and did not perceive it as a big loss. Vehofstadt himself conceded defeat because it is inconceivable that he would return as prime minister in the next government, but the other Flemish liberals are ready to join a new government, never mind the voters, who rebuked them.

The big winner was Yves Leterme, who won close to 800,000 personal votes. His party, now renamed CD&V, lost big eight years ago. Voters wanted change and handed a victory to the “Purple Coalition” of VLD and Sp.a. Now the voters are unhappy with the government and expect change from CD&V. Well, that's an illusion. How can CD&V offer change instead of more of the same disastrous policies?

There is more. Leterme promised a further radical reform of the Belgian state, transferring more power to the regions. But to do that he needs a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, which he doesn't have. Only a tripartite government would have enough votes, but that is unrealistic as the Flemish socialists have chosen not to join the next government. They could support the reform from the opposition benches, but that would not give them any credits at the next elections in 4 years. If Leterme cannot fulfill his promises, he will lose big in 2011.

And of course there was the big surprise of Lijst Dedecker, gaining 5 seats in the House and one in the Senate. Even in his wildest dreams, Jean-Marie Dedecker had only expected to get at most one seat. It shows that some voters like to support an underdog. The question is whether he will be able to built a lasting party.

It will be a long hot summer before the next Belgian government is formed.

The President of Antwerp

There seems to be a lot of confusion about which party actually won or lost local and provincial council elections in Flanders (that’s the Northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium).

The winners include the Christian-democrat/nationalist CD&V/N-VA, the socialist Sp.a and the right-wing VB. The losers include the liberal VLD and again the right-wing VB.

Well, nobody ever said that politics in Belgium was easy to grasp :-)

The foreign press expected a victory of the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) and so that’s what they reported. The truth is a bit more complex. Let’s put crooked things straight:

• CD&V/N-VA is a winner, because it’s the largest party in Flanders, but it lost 6 seats in the provincial councils
  
• Mayor of Antwerp Patrick Janssens is a clear winner because he beat Filip Dewinter on preference votes and his Sp.a-Spirit became the largest party in the Antwerp city council
  
• VB won because the number of its seats in local councils increased from 439 to around 800. But that’s mainly because it participated in many local elections for the first time. In Antwerp it only gained 0.5%, Dewinter was trashed by Janssens and nowhere did the party clinch an absolute majority. That’s a win-loose situation. So no 13th election victory in a row.
  

And Miss Marie-Rose (Morel) has to pass the next couple of winters without the mayor’s scarf in Schoten.

Finally, Antwerp has its President!