Opinion research conducted for De Stemming (The Vote) shows the far right Vlaams Belang party miles ahead of all other parties less than 100 days before the general election on 9 June. Vlaams Belang polls 27.8%. The party that has been ostacised by all others leaves its closest rival, the Flemish nationalist N-VA, on 18.9%, far behind it.
Vlaams Blok successor Vlaams Belang became the largest party in Flanders in the opinion polls shortly after the 2019 election. Today it has built up a commanding lead. The party campaigns on migration, an issue identified by 22% of Flemings as today’s biggest challenge.
Bart De Wever’s centre-right Flemish nationalist party remains second though the gap between it and Vlaams Belang becomes increasingly large. It’s the first time since 2019 that the party has dropped under 20%.
The Flemish socialist party Vooruit remains third in the opinion poll picking up 13.7% of the popular vote. The figure is markedly down from the 16.9% in the last poll, a drop attributed largely to the loss of its leader Conner Rousseau following a drunken and racist rant.
The Flemish Christian democrats of CD&V that once dominated Flemish and Belgian politics collect no more than 11.3% of the popular vote. The far-left PVDA or Labour Party is doing well on 10.7% - nearly a doubling in support compared with five years ago.
The Flemish liberals of Open VLD on 9% fade further. In 2019 they picked up 13.1%. The Flemish ecologists of Groen can count on the solid support of 8.2% of Flemings.
De Stemming is a survey commissioned by VRT NWS and daily De Standaard and conducted by the University of Antwerp, led by political scientists Stefaan Walgrave and Jonas Lefevere. 2,029 residents of the Flemish region were surveyed online, between 8 and 22 January.