After it emerged that thousands of under 18s were able to cast votes for the federal and Flemish parliaments instead of only being able to vote for the European parliament on 9 June, the Flemish parliament set up a commission to consider the validity of the election in Brussels.
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Flemish parliament throws out request for recount in Brussels
Colin Clapson
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The commission examined the issue and has now decided to recommend to the full parliament that no recount is held. It argued a recount would not necessarily provide a more accurate result because votes by under 18s cannot be weeded out. The parliament was responding to a request from the Flemish liberals of Open VLD, who wanted a recount on the basis of the paper ballots that were printed in tandem with the election on computers as a safeguard to errors in the vote.
The Flemish liberals say that a further 13 votes would have given them an extra seat in the Flemish parliament. In the event the seat went to the far right Vlaams Belang.
Sofie Joosen of the Flemish nationalist N-VA chaired the commission. She was joined by six members of the Flemish parliament, who alphabetically follow her on the list of MFPs. MFPs elected in Brussels were excluded from sitting on the committee.
The committee met today. Its conclusions went to a plenary session of the Flemish parliament that decided against a recount in Brussels. The liberals are disappointed and believe it will never be clear the current parliament is correctly composed.