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The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2012 took place on 14 October. As with the previous
2006 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential e ...
, these are no longer organised by the Belgian federal state but instead by the respective regions: *
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
with 19 municipalities *
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
with 5 provinces and 308 municipalities ** In the city of
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, elections were also held for its nine districts *
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
with 5 provinces and 262 municipalities In the
municipalities with language facilities In Belgium, there are 27 municipalities with language facilities (; ; ), which must offer linguistic services to residents in Dutch, French, or German in addition to their single official languages. All other municipalities – with the except ...
of
Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flanders, Flemish Dutch language, Dutch-speaking Municipalities of Belgium, municipality with Municipalities with language facilities, facilities for the Walloons, French-speaking minority, located in the Belgium, Belgian provi ...
,
Comines-Warneton Comines-Warneton (; ; ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is contiguous with the identically named Comines on the other side of the border with France. On 1 January 2006 it had a total ...
and the 6 of the
Brussels Periphery The Brussels Periphery (, i.e. the "Brussels Rim", or ''Vlaamse Rand'', i.e. the "Flemish Rim", or just ''De Rand'', "the Rim"; ) refers to 19 Flemish municipalities that encircle the Brussels-Capital Region. The Brussels Region is an enclave of ...
, the
aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking membe ...
and members of the OCMW/CPAS council are directly elected. Mayors are not directly elected, instead the respective regional government (of Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia) appoint one of the elected municipal councillors. The councillors usually propose a candidate. The result in Wallonia was largely a continuation of the major parties, without any big power shifts. In Flanders however, the nationalist party
N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...
, which won in previous
regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
and federal elections, continued their success and became (one of) the largest party in many municipalities and the largest in three out of five provinces.


Electoral system


Parties

National political parties are mostly separated by language community. A lot of municipalities have local parties as well as a presence of national parties. Here are the most important national parties: * Dutch-speaking, generally contending in Flanders and Brussels:
N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...
(nationalist),
CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, ; CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...
(Christian-democrats),
sp.a Vooruit (, Dutch for Forward) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. It was formerly known as the (Flemish) Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'' , , SP.A) ...
(socialists),
Open VLD The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal ...
(liberals),
Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch people, Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...
(far-right), PvdA (Marxist) * French-speaking, generally contending in Wallonia and Brussels: PS (socialists), MR (liberals), FDF (liberals), CdH (Christian-democrats),
Ecolo Ecolo (), officially Écologistes Confédérés pour l'organisation de luttes originales (, ) is a French-speaking political party in Belgium based on green politics. The party is active in Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region. Ecolo's F ...
(ecologists), FN (far-right), PTB (Marxist) * German-speaking, generally contending in several German-speaking municipalities in Wallonia


Foreign residents

For the third time, non-Belgian EU residents may vote and be candidate for the municipal elections under the same conditions as Belgian residents, and for the second time non-Belgian non-EU residents may vote, but not be candidate, after 5 years residency. As voting is compulsory and Belgium may not impose voting on foreign residents, would-be voters from both categories have to fill a document and go to their municipal administration before August 1, 2012 to be included on the list of electors. Non-EU residents have to sign a document accepting to conform to Belgian laws and Constitution. The percentage of foreign residents who are enlisted as electors has severely declined from 2006 to 2012: from 20.9% to 14.85% for EU residents, from 15.7% to 6.30% for non-EU residents (still including Bulgarians and Rumanians in 2006).


Brussels

The
Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...
is made up of 19 municipalities (of which one is the
City of Brussels The City of Brussels is the largest List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, municipality and historical City centre, centre of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, as well as the capital of the French Community of Belgium, the ...
) which are not part of any province. In these municipalities, French-speaking parties are usually the largest ones, mostly PS and MR. FDF, previously forming a
cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...
with MR and also strong in Brussels municipalities, will now contend on its own, but dissidents from both former partners are contending on the other party's list, particularly in the municipalities where they are currently part of the majority coalition. Dutch-speaking parties will in some municipalities form a cartel either with their French counterpart or in a larger "Mayor's List", as is the case this time between Ecolo and Groen! in all 19 municipalities, and with PS and SP.A in 17 out of 19. The only Dutch-speaking list with support from most Dutch-speaking parties is Samen (CD&V, Open VLD, SP.A and independents) in Auderghem. N-VA announced it will contend on its own in at least 10 out of the 19 municipalities. 78 Dutch-speaking Dutch-speaking candidates were elected this time in the municipal councils. There were 613,768 registered voters, an increase of 21,746 compared to 2006. Despite
compulsory voting Compulsory voting, also called universal civic duty voting or mandatory voting, is the requirement that registered voters participate in an election. As of January 2023, 21 countries have compulsory voting laws. Law enforcement in those countries ...
, only 508,575 or 82.86% cast a vote, of which 29.370 were invalid votes (6.13% of votes cast). The lowest turnout was in
Ixelles (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located to the south-east of Pentagon (Brussels), Brusse ...
(80.11%), whereas
Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Woluwe-Saint-Pierre ( French, ) or Sint-Pieters-Woluwe ( Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by Etterbeek, Auderghem and Woluwe-Saint-Lambe ...
featured the highest (87.27%).
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western p ...
had the highest proportion of invalid votes (9.71%), whereas Woluwe-Saint-Pierre had the lowest (2.70%).


Results

Results are available via http://bruxelleselections2012.irisnet.be/


Flanders

The five provincial councils were up for election, as well as the municipal councils of all 308 municipalities along with the district councils in the city of Antwerp and the OCMW councils in seven municipalities with language facilities for French speakers.


Background and general trends

The nationalist party
N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...
became the largest party in the 2010 federal election. It was expected that the party would now achieve a number of seats in many Flemish municipalities, which was indeed the case. Local lists include cartels between two parties and independents, varying from one municipality to another, e.g. SP.A and CD&V in the city of Antwerp, but SP.A and Groen! in the
districts of Antwerp The Belgium, Belgian city of Antwerp consists of ten former municipalities (called ''deelgemeenten'') which have the status of district. # Antwerp (district), Antwerp # Berchem # Berendrecht-Zandvliet-Lillo # Borgerhout # Borsbeek # Deurne, Belgiu ...
and in Ghent, Open VLD and Groen! (and a splinter group from the CD&V) in Mechelen. Parties on the right, CD&V, Open VLD and Vlaams Belang, generally lose votes in previous elections whereas N-VA has grown a lot. The socialist party SP.A is especially successful in large cities, but has slightly been losing votes in previous elections too. The green party Groen remains stable with a relatively low percentage of votes. Results are available via http://vlaanderenkiest.be/verkiezingen2012/ Voting being mandatory but unenforced, turnout was lowest in Antwerp city (85.56%), specifically the city centre district (82.98%), as well as Oostende (85.98%), followed mostly by the linguistically sensitive municipalities in the
Brussels Periphery The Brussels Periphery (, i.e. the "Brussels Rim", or ''Vlaamse Rand'', i.e. the "Flemish Rim", or just ''De Rand'', "the Rim"; ) refers to 19 Flemish municipalities that encircle the Brussels-Capital Region. The Brussels Region is an enclave of ...
.


Provincial elections

The provincial councils of
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
,
Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...
,
East Flanders East Flanders ( ; ; ; ) is a Provinces of Belgium, province of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the North) the Netherlands, Dutch province of Zeeland and the Belgian provinces of Antwerp (province), Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut (provinc ...
,
West Flanders West Flanders is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the northwest. It has land borders with the Dutch province of Zeeland to the northeast, the Flemis ...
and
Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced. In East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and especially Antwerp, N-VA became the largest party in the province, followed by CD&V. In Limburg and West Flanders, CD&V remained the biggest party followed by N-VA. † In Limburg: coalition SP.A - Groen. Only one of the 13 elected candidates (Hassan Amaghlaou) is a member of Groen.


Municipal elections

Below are the results for the municipal council elections of the eight most populous cities, which include the five provincial capitals.


Aalst

After the election, Christoph D'Haese became mayor of Aalst (in East Flanders), succeeding Ilse Uyttersprot.


Antwerp

A lot of attention goes to the city of
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, where
Bart De Wever Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (; born 21 December 1970) is a Belgian author, historian and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Belgium since February 2025. From 2004 to 2025, De Wever had been the leader of the New Flemish Allianc ...
, the president of N-VA, wants to become mayor and put an end to decades of socialist mayors, the current one being
Patrick Janssens Patrick Janssens (born 19 September 1956) is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp. Career Janssens studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" (bo ...
(
sp.a Vooruit (, Dutch for Forward) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. It was formerly known as the (Flemish) Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'' , , SP.A) ...
). Christian-democrat
CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, ; CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations ( UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party w ...
and socialist sp.a will form one list. Also Wouter Van Besien (president of
Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch people, Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.Filip Dewinter Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter (born 11 September 1962) is a Belgian politician, journalist and commentator. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party. Family back ...
of extreme-right
Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...
is campaigning in Antwerp. According to a poll, N-VA would get 42,9% of the votes, giving 26 out of 55 seats in the municipal party, and 46,5% would like to see De Wever become the new mayor.


Bruges

In
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
(capital of West Flanders), the incumbent mayor Patrick Moenaert (CD&V), who led a coalition of CD&V/N-VA, SP.A and VLD (which were all represented parties except Groen and VB), quit so all possibilities remained open. Polls gave CD&V, SP.A and N-VA as major parties.


Gent

In
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
(capital of East Flanders), the incumbent mayor
Daniël Termont Daniël Termont (born 19 May 1953) is a Belgian politician, member of the Socialist Party and former mayor of Ghent, Belgium. He was the son of shopkeepers who lived in Mariakerke. His mother's family was strongly socialistically engaged. In ...
is very popular. SP.A, his party, now formed a cartel with
Groen Groen or de Groen is a surname of Dutch people, Dutch origin, meaning ''green''.Mathias De Clercq Mathias Toon Cecil Willy De Clercq, Jonkheer, esq. (born 26 December 1981, Ghent) is a Belgians, Belgian politician. He is a member of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, Flemish liberal party. At the moment he is the List of mayors of Ghen ...
and N-VA of
Siegfried Bracke Siegfried Theofiel Hortense Bracke (born 21 February 1953) is a former Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010. Bracke was born in Ghent. Before his political ...
follow after a gap.


Hasselt


Kortrijk

Vincent Van Quickenborne Vincent Paul Marie Van Quickenborne (born 1 August 1973) is a Belgian politician of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats who served as Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo from 2020 to 2023. Backgro ...
became mayor of
Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...
(in West Flanders), with a coalition of Open Vld, N-VA and sp.a, defeating incumbent mayor
Stefaan De Clerck Stefaan Maria Joris Yolanda De Clerck (; born 12 December 1951) is a Belgian politician and former Minister of Justice of Belgium. He was Minister of Justice from 1995 until 1998 as well, when he resigned following the escape from prison of ...
and his CD&V, thereby ending a 150-year period of Catholic and Christian democratic mayors in the city.


Leuven

In
Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
(capital of
Flemish Brabant Flemish Brabant ( ; ) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also ...
), polls indicated that SP.A, the party of incumbent mayor
Louis Tobback Louis Marie Joseph Tobback (born 3 May 1938) is a Belgian politician. Tobback is a Flemish social democrat and member of the political party SP.A. He was the mayor of Leuven (1995–2018) He graduated in Romance philology at the Vrije Univer ...
, would still be the largest. N-VA, CD&V and Groen follow after a gap.


Mechelen

Bart Somers Bartolomeus Jozef Lodewijk Rosalia "Bart" Somers (born 12 May 1964 in Mechelen) is a Belgian, Flemish politician. He is currently the mayor of Mechelen. In 2017, Bart Somers was awarded 2016 World Mayor Prize as recognition for his outstandin ...
(Open Vld), mayor since 2001, continued after the elections with his "vld-Groen-m+ city list", but with N-VA and CD&V as coalition partners instead of sp.a. Sp.a became opposition, along with a significantly reduced Vlaams Belang.


Wallonia

PS and MR are generally the two largest parties, followed by Ecolo and CDH. In the province of Luxembourg, CDH is generally more successful. No major trends or shifts were expected nor happened. Results are available via https://web.archive.org/web/20121015010835/http://elections2012.wallonie.be/results/fr/


Provincial elections

The provincial councils of
Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...
,
Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant ( ; ; ) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Walloon Br ...
,
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
, Hainaut and
Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
were elected. The number of councillors has been reduced. * * includes the votes of the German-speaking sister party of Liegé provinceThe official results of the 2018 provincial elections in Wallonia
14 October 2018, elections2018.wallonie.be


Municipal elections


References


External links


Electoral leaflets and posters
(site map fo
BrusselsFlandersWallonia
, ''Tractothèque'' {{Belgian elections 2012 elections in Belgium
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
October 2012 in Europe