2009 European Parliament election in Belgium

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Belgium was on Sunday 7 June 2009 and was the election of the delegation from Belgium to the European Parliament. The elections were on the same day as regional elections to the Flemish Parliament, Walloon Parliament, Brussels Parliament and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community.[1]

European Parliament election in Belgium, 2009
7 June 2009
22 seats to the European Parliament
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jean-Luc Dehaene Guy Verhofstadt Jean-Claude Marcourt
Party CD&V Open Vld PS
Alliance EPP ALDE PES
Last election 4 seats, 17.43% 3 seats, 13.56% 4 seats, 13.54%
Seats won 3 3 2
Seat change 1 1
Popular vote 948,123 837,884 714,947
Percentage 14.43% 12.75% 10.88%
Swing 3.00% 0.81% 2.66%
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Frank Vanhecke Louis Michel
Party VB MR
Alliance ALDE
Last election 3 seats, 14.43% 3 seats, 10.35%
Seats won 2 2
Seat change 1 1
Popular vote 647,170 640,092
Percentage 9.85% 9.74%
Swing 4.49% 0.61%
Members of the
European Parliament
for Belgium
ECSC delegation (1952)
EP delegation (1958)
1st term (1979)
2nd term (1984)
3rd term (1989)
4th term (1994)
5th term (1999)
6th term (2004)
7th term (2009)
8th term (2014)
9th term (2019)

As a result of the Treaty of Nice – that became active in November 2004 – the number of Belgian delegates in the European Parliament decreased from 24 (in 2004) to 22 delegates: 13 delegates were elected by the Dutch-speaking Electoral College, 8 delegates by the Francophone Electoral College and 1 by the German-speaking Electoral College.

Results
 Summary of the complete results of Belgium's 7 June 2009 election to the European Parliament
2009
National party European party Main candidate Electoral college Votes % +/– E.c. % Seats +/–
Christian Democratic & Flemish (CD&V) EPP Jean-Luc Dehaene Dutch-speaking 948,123 14.43 * 23.26 3 *
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (OPEN VLD) ELDR Guy Verhofstadt Dutch-speaking 837,884 12.75 * 20.56 3 *
Socialist Party (PS) PES Jean-Claude Marcourt French-speaking 714,947 10.88 2.66 29.10 3 1
Flemish Interest (VB) None Frank Vanhecke Dutch-speaking 647,170 9.85 4.49 15.88 2 1
Reformist Movement (MR) ELDR Louis Michel French-speaking 640,092 9.74 0.61 26.05 2 1
Ecology Party (ECOLO) EGP Isabelle Durant French-speaking 562,081 8.55 4.86 22.88 2 1
Socialist Party – Differently (SP.A) PES Kathleen Van Brempt Dutch-speaking 539,393 8.21 * 13.23 2 *
New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) EFA Frieda Brepoels Dutch-speaking 402,545 6.13 * 9.88 1 *
Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) EPP Anne Delvaux French-speaking 327,824 4.99 0.69 13.34 1 0
Green! (GROEN!) EGP Bart Staes Dutch-speaking 322,149 4.90 0.04 7.90 1 0
List Dedecker (LDD) AECR Jean-Marie Dedecker Dutch-speaking 296,699 4.51 new 7.28 1 0
Christian Social Party (CSP) EPP Mathieu Grosch German-speaking 12,475 0.19 0.05 32.25 1 0
  National Front (FN) None Jean-Pierre Borbouse French-speaking 87,706 1.33 1.46 3.57 0 0
  Workers' Party+ (PVDA+) None Peter Mertens Dutch-speaking 40,057 0.61 0.23 0.98 0 0
Wallonia First (WDB) None Christian Haudegand French-speaking 37,505 0.57 new 1.53 0 0
  Rally Wallonia France (RWF) None Paul-Henry Gendebien French-speaking 30,488 0.46 0.11 1.24 0 0
  Workers' Party+ (PTB+) None Raoul Hedebouw French-speaking 28,483 0.43 0.13 1.16 0 0
  Social Liberal Party (SLP) EFA Nelly Maes Dutch-speaking 26,541 0.40 * 0.65 0 0
  Left Socialist Party (LSP) None Bart Vandersteene Dutch-speaking 8,985 0.14 0.08 0.22 0 0
Revolutionary Communist League (LCR-PSL) None Céline Caudron French-speaking 7,954 0.12 — 0.32 0 0
  Party for Freedom and Progress (PFF) ELDR Bernd Gentges German-speaking 7,878 0.12 0.01 20.37 0 0
  Committee for Another Policy (CAP) + D'Orazio None Ezio D'Orazio French-speaking 7,626 0.12 — 0.31 0 0
  Communist Party (PC-GE) PEL Pierre Eyben French-speaking 7,533 0.11 — 0.31 0 0
  Committee for Another Policy (CAP) None Raf Verbeke Dutch-speaking 6,398 0.10 new 0.16 0 0
  Ecology Party (ECOLO) EGP Claudia Niessen German-speaking 6,025 0.09 0.03 15.58 0 0
  Socialist Party (SP) PES Resi Stoffels German-speaking 5,658 0.09 0.00 14.63 0 0
  Socialist Movement (MS) None Francis Biesmans French-speaking 4,939 0.08 — 0.20 0 0
  Pro German-speaking Community (PRO DG) None Harald Mollers German-speaking 3,897 0.06 0.01 10.07 0 0
  Vivant (VIVANT) None Josef Meyer German-speaking 2,417 0.04 — 6.25 0 0
Europe of Values (EDW) None Myrianne Coen German-speaking 330 0.01 new 0.85 0 0
Valid votes 6,571,802 93.69
Blank and invalid votes 442,613 6.31
Totals 7,014,415 100.00 — — 22 2
Electorate (eligible voters) and voter turnout 7,760,436 90.39
Source: Belgian Ministry of the Interior

Candidates

Dutch-speaking electoral college
Flemish Interest
PlaceNameParty# of votes
1Frank VanheckeVB161,371
2Marijke DillenVB43,974
3Philip ClaeysVB27,763
4Linda VissersVB30,167
5Francis Van den EyndeVB25,598
6Johan DemolVB32,600
7Alexandra ColenVB27,686
8Gerda Van SteenbergeVB22,751
9Bart LaeremansVB24,592
10Bruno ValkeniersVB33,322
11Anke Van dermeerschVB41,049
12Filip DewinterVB150,584
13Marie-Rose MorelVB108,629
Green!
PlaceNameParty# of votes
1Bart StaesGROEN!97,036
2Joke Van de PutteGROEN!28,556
3Meyrem AlmaciGROEN!28,806
4Hugo van DienderenGROEN!10,049
5Maarten TavernierGROEN!11,331
6Rik JellemaGROEN!7,442
7Sara MatthieuGROEN!18,248
8Francine De PrinsGROEN!12,230
9Inan AsliyüceGROEN!11,763
10Philippe AvijnGROEN!6,870
11Tom KestensGROEN!9,866
12Tinne Van der StraetenGROEN!19,116
13Vera DuaGROEN!39,725
List Dedecker
PlaceNameParty# of votes
1Jean-Marie DedeckerLDD149,768
2Moniek DenhaenLDD10,629
3Derk Jan EppinkLDD13,898
4Kristof Van Der CruysseLDD7,405
5Isabelle Van LaethemLDD9,785
New Flemish Alliance
PlaceNameParty# of votes
1Frieda BrepoelsN-VA67,717
2Flor Van NoppenN-VA27,788
3Elke SleursN-VA19,575
4Louis IdeN-VA16,382
5Hil D'HaeseN-VA11,585
Socialist Party–Differently
PlaceNameParty# of votes
1Kathleen Van BremptSP.A146,992
2Saïd El KhadraouiSP.A50,408
3Anne Van LanckerSP.A47,415
4Selahattin KocakSP.A33,444
5Tom GermonpréSP.A19,173
6Tom BalthazarSP.A21,864
7Laila El AbouziSP.A25,694
8Myriam VanlerbergheSP.A25,683
9Ludwig VandenhoveSP.A22,781
10Sener UgurluSP.A23,333
11Dalila DouifiSP.A20,748
12Christine Van BroeckhovenSP.A28,490
13Bert AnciauxSP.A71,919

Linguistic controversy

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency

Generally in Belgium, residents of Flanders can only vote for a party list that runs in Flanders, and in Wallonia residents may only pick a Walloon list. In practice this means residents will only be able to vote for a party representing the official language group of the region. (French-speakers in Flanders have, however, joined up in the cross-party Union des Francophones with one seat in the Flemish Parliament).

In the capital Brussels, which is officially bilingual, people can choose either a French- or a Dutch-speaking party list. However, the area surrounding Brussels is part of Dutch-speaking Flanders, but is joined with the Brussels constituency in elections for the European Parliament and the Belgian Parliament. This bilingual constituency, Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, has been declared unconstitutional and has been a source of controversy for years. Flemings fear the bilingual constituency leads to increased francisation of the Dutch-speaking area surrounding Brussels, while French-speakers claim it is their basic right to vote for a French-speaking party. Some Dutch-speaking municipalities decided to boycott the EU Parliament election for reason of the unconstitutionality,[2] but elections were carried out anyway.

As in previous elections, Francophone parties campaigned outside of the Francophone area, leading to measures from Flemish authorities. Affligem and Halle are located in Dutch-speaking Flanders (although a substantial minority of Francophones also live there) but belong to the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency. Politicians in Affligem and Halle have objected to French-speaking campaigners in Flanders, and billboard space has been denied by the municipal authorities. In Affligem, French-language posters that had already been put up were covered with white paper. The Francophone party Humanist Democratic Centre has condemned it as an attack on "the fundamental rights of French speakers on the periphery [of Brussels]".[2][3]

The municipalities of Merchtem, Beersel, Kapelle-op-den-Bos, Machelen, Ternat, Meise, and Grimbergen also said that they would not provide billboard space, in the hope of avoiding French-language posters. In Steenokkerzeel, Ternat, and Grimbergen stickers were distributed, to be placed on mailboxes, requesting that only Dutch flyers are accepted.[3]

gollark: 3 dumb? 4 dumb?
gollark: That makes sense, since if something is a bomb you will obviously stay as close to it and use it as much as possible.
gollark: `((0 * 4) + +[(a * b), (b * c), (a + 3)])` you.
gollark: osmarkscalculator™ MUST simplify expressions, yet this makes it quite hard to.
gollark: No, this is actually bad.

References
  1. http://www.eurotopics.net/en/presseschau/aeltere/NEWSLETTER-2009-02-18-Belgian-state-reform-fails%5B%5D
  2. "Language rift in Belgian election". BBC News. 6 May 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  3. "Belgian linguistic feud intensifies as elections draw near". EurActiv.com. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
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