In addition to Ninove (East Flanders) the prosecutor’s office has also seized proxy votes cast in three other Flemish municipalities. On Tuesday the Flemish Home Affairs Minister Hilde Crevits (Christian democrat) said that the prosecutor’s office is also examining the proxy votes cast in Alken (Limburg), Dilbeek and Meise (both Flemish Brabant). Ms Crevits was responding to a question posed in the Flemish Parliament.
Following the local elections on 13 October, the Flemish Agency for Home Affairs (ABB) received four requests from public prosecutors' offices concerning the use of proxies, Ms Crevits said. However, she would not go into any further detail.
The proxy voting system enables people who are unavailable to vote in person, for example due to work commitments, health issues or because they are abroad at the time of the election, to cast their vote via another person that that they have designated in advance.
The Home Affairs Minister says that an examination of the use of proxies will form part a planned evaluation of the electoral system in Flanders.
No comparison with previous elections
Ms Crevits told the Flemish Parliament that it will not be possible to compare the use of proxies at this year’s elections with previous elections. Not least because the reports drafted by the presidents of the various polling stations in 2018 have since been destroyed.
The seizure of proxy votes in Ninove has received the most media attention. In the East Flemish town Forza Ninove, the local branch of the far-right party Vlaams Belang, won an absolute majority of seats on the local council. In Ninove more than 1,600 votes were cast by proxy. This represents 7% of the votes cast.