As of today, election campaigning is severely limited until the big election day on 9 June. Poster campaigns and gadgets, for instance, will not be making an appearance
Today marks four months until the big elections of 9 June, when Belgians will vote in regional, national and European elections. That means the beginning of the sperperiode, or Blackout period, when campaigning is brought to an absolute minimum.
Also known as ‘Election silence’, the period of time ahead of the election limits the amount of money that political parties can spend on campaigns. Parties are limited to €1 million in total for all elections that take place on 9 June. Candidates are also limited in how much they can spend, according to their place on the election list and number of constituents.
Can expats vote?
If you are a Belgian citizen, you must vote in the regional and national elections; it is mandatory. You cannot vote in these elections if you are not a Belgian citizen. (Non-Belgians can under certain circumstances vote in the municipal elections in October.)
If you are an EU citizen aged 16 or older on election day, you can vote in the European elections in Belgium. You must be registered as living in a Belgian municipality, and you must be registered to vote by 31 March. If you have registered previously, you do not have to register again.
Voting in Belgium means voting for Belgian politicians and political parties that are standing in the European elections. If you want to vote for politicians or parties from your home country, then you must vote from inside your home country.
That money cannot, in any case, be spent on postering or billboards, nor can parties sell or give away gadgets or other products sporting their logos. Citizens can support parties or specific politicians with signs on their own property, but they cannot be bigger than four square metres.
And voters will not be influenced by radio or TV ads during the blackout period either. The internet, however, is fair game, so paid social media campaigns will continue to fill up your news feeds.
Not everyone agrees with that last one. “The blackout period rules date from the 1980s,” political analyst Carl Devos told Radio 2. “The internet was not a source of information then, but now everything happens there. The rules need to be reviewed urgently.”