According to figures released by the Federal Interior Ministry, just over 15% of foreign nationals living in Belgium have registered to vote in the municipal elections on 13 October. Foreign nationals living in Belgium that wish to vote in the municipal elections had until 31 July to register with their local authority.
Just over 15% of foreigners resident in Belgium have registered to vote in the municipal elections
Published:
16.27% of EU nationals or 135,037 people out of a total of 830,914 potential voters have registered.
Of the non-EU-nationals that were entitled to register 27,780 out of 233,592 potential voters (11.91%) did so. This gives a total of 162,817 out of 1,064,506 potential voters which is 15.29%.
Regional differences
There are differences in foreign voter participation between the regions.
In Flanders 10.4% of EU nationals resident in the region have registered to vote in the municipal elections. The same is true of 7.6% of the non-EU foreigners that were entitled to do so.
In the Brussels-Capital Region 17.09% (41,251) of foreigners from EU countries have registered, while 13.25% (9,192) of foreigners from non-EU countries that were entitled to do so have one the same.
In Wallonia (excluding the 9 German-speaking municipalities in the East of Liège Province) almost a quarter (24.6%) of EU foreigners have register to vote on 13 October. Meanwhile, 18.62% of non-EU foreigners that were entitled to do so have registered. In the 9 German-Speaking municipalities the figures are 15.53% and 2.62% respectively.