The results of a survey commissioned by VRT News and the daily ‘De Standaard show that Flemish voters are dissatisfied with the policies pursued by both the Flemish government and the Federal government in recent years. The survey call ‘De Stemming’, stemming being a Dutch word that can mean both vote and mood, shows that Flemings’ faith in politics remains particularly low just 100 days before the regional, federal and European elections on 9 June.
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Flemings give Flemish and Belgian governments poor marks as disenchantment with politics remains high
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As was the case in last year’s ‘De Stemming’ survey Flemings show dissatisfaction not only with the policies of the regional and federal government, but also with those pursued by the European Commission. As was the case last year the Federal Government achieved a satisfaction rating of 4.1 out of 10 among those surveyed. The Flemish Government fared a little better with a satisfaction rating of 4.5 out of 10. This was a slight improvement on last year. However, then our survey was carried in the immediate aftermath of a very public row between the coalition parties on policy to reduce nitrogen emissions.
The European Commission has a satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 10 among the Flemings surveyed.
Voters of the far-right party Vlaams Belang and the far-left party PVDA are the most negative about both governments. Those that vote for Open VLD (Flemish Liberals) and CD&V (Flemish Christian Democrats), two parties that are part of the both the Flemish and federal government coalitions are generally the most satisfied with the federal and regional governments.
Meanwhile, those that vote for Flemish nationalist party N-VA take a much more negative view of the policies of the federal government where N-VA is in opposition than of the Flemish government where the N-VA is the largest and the Prime Minister Jan Jambon is a member of the party.
The opposite is true among the voters of Vooruit (Flemish Socialists) and Groen (Flemish Greens). These two parties are in the opposition in the Flemish parliament, but are part of the Belgian federal government coalition.
The voters of Open VLD, a party that is represented in both governments, view the Belgian government (in which the party has Alexander De Croo as Prime Minister) slightly more favourably than they do the Flemish government.