In Belgium, the municipal elections took place this Sunday, October 13 and the Flemish far right has been making headlines since, because, for the first time since the Second World War, it managed to win the leadership of a medium-sized city , Ninove, 30 km from Brussels.
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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet
The municipal elections this Sunday, October 13 confirm some major trends from the June legislative elections. We are witnessing a collapse in the environmentalist vote, particularly in Brussels. In the same way, the nationalists of the Neo-Flemish Alliance (N-VA) maintain their lead over all the other parties and on the French-speaking side the liberals (MR) locally establish their unprecedented breakthrough in the legislative elections.
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Belgian voters therefore give points in advance to the right and the center-right, but the notable information of this election is the victory of the extreme right in the town of Ninove, around thirty kilometers away. from Brussels.
Campaign against immigration
The voters of the municipality gave a very large victory to the “Forza Ninove” list, a local alliance centered around Vlaams Belang, the far-right separatist party. It is directed by Guy D’haeseleer who will therefore become the mayor of Ninove, the mayor of this town of forty thousand inhabitants. His list managed to win 47.4% of the votes, but it is in fact an absolute majority, because this score will allow it to occupy 18 seats out of 35 on the municipal council, the equivalent of the municipal council. It is for Vlaams Belang the only possibility of having a mayor, because for forty years the other parties have always applied the “ sanitary cordon » to refuse coalitions with this party formerly called Vlaams Blok.
Guy D’haeseleer campaigned against immigration: the inhabitants “ have had enough of French-speaking foreigners in Brussels » and “ social problems due to immigration from Brussels “. He has been exulting since the official results on Sunday evening and boasts of having overcome the cordon santé, even if there remains a dose of suspense, because the prosecution announced this Monday that it was investigating suspicion of electoral fraud.
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