Both the liberals and the greens lost ground in Sunday’s provincial council elections. The Flemish nationalists party N-VA is the biggest party on 3 of the 5 provincial councils in Flanders. The Christian Democrats held their ground in West Flanders and Limburg. The picture is more mixed in East Flanders. The socialist party Vooruit and the far-right Vlaams Belang have increased their vote. The far-left PVDA only increased its share of the vote in Antwerp Province.
Provincial council elections: liberals and greens down, socialists and far-right up
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Christian democrats hold their ground in Limburg
The Christian democrat party CD&V scored well in Limburg and will remain the biggest group on the provincial council. The Flemish nationalist party N-VA remains the second largest party. The big winner is the far-right Vlaams Belang whose share of the vote increased by 5.6 percentage points. The party is now the third biggest on the provincial council. The far-left PVDA also increased its vote, albeit slightly.
Among the losers in Limburg are the socialists, the liberals and the greens. Limburg is the only province in which the socialists lost ground.
Nationalists in command in Antwerp Province
The Flemish nationalist party N-VA remains by far the largest party on the provincial council in Antwerp province. Other winners on Sunday were the far-right Vlaams Belang, the socialist party Vooruit and the far-left PVDA. The Christian democrats and above all the greens and the liberals lost ground.
Christian democrats still the biggest The in West Flanders
Despite polling slightly less than it did in 2018, the Christian democrat party CD&V remains the largest party on the provincial council in West Flanders.
The Flemish nationalists remain the second party, closely followed by the far-right Vlaams Belang that has increased its vote considerably. The socialists also increased their vote. The far-left PVDA was up only slightly on 2018. As elsewhere the big losers in West Flanders are the liberals and the greens.
Nationalists remain the largest party in Flemish Brabant
Despite being down slightly on their score in 2018, the Flemish nationalists remain the largest party on the provincial council in Flemish Brabant. The Christian democrats remain the second largest party.
The big winners are the socialists and the far-right. Both parties gained 2 additional seats and now have 5 seats each. As elsewhere the liberals and the greens lost seats. The francophone cartel list UF has 2 representatives on the provincial council.
Liberals get a drubbing in East Flanders
The liberal party Open VLD lost 7 percentage points and fell back from 2nd to 6th place in the elections to the provincial council in East Flanders. The Flemish nationalists remain the largest party. Second is the far-right Vlaams Belang whose vote increased by 4.1 percentage points.
The Christian democrats were down slightly but remain the 3rd biggest party. One of the big winners on Sunday were socialists. They saw their share of the vote increase by 4.4 percentage points. The losers were the greens and above all the liberals whose vote was down by more than a third compared with 2018.