2024 Belgian local elections

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2024 Belgian local elections - Wikipedia

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This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2024)

2024 Belgian local elections

← 2018

13 October 2024 (2024-10-13)

All 10 provincial councils
All 565 municipal councils
All 8 directly elected OCMW/CPAS councils
All 10 Antwerp city district councils

The 2024 Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections took place on Sunday 13 October 2024,^[1] four months after the simultaneous European, federal and regional elections.

The local elections were organised by the respective regions:

Brussels with 19 municipalities
Flanders with 5 provinces and 285 municipalities (down from 300)
- In the city of Antwerp, elections were also held for its 10 districts (up from 9)
Wallonia with 5 provinces and 261 municipalities (one fewer)
- In the German-speaking Community, the elections are organised by that community rather than the Walloon Region

In the municipalities with language facilities of Voeren, Comines-Warneton and the 6 of the Brussels Periphery, the aldermen and members of the OCMW/CPAS council are directly elected.

As reflected in the number of municipalities above, some municipalities are merging. One of them, Borsbeek, merged with the city of Antwerp, becoming its tenth district.^[2] In Wallonia, only Bastogne and Bertogne are merging. The mergers take effect following the 2024 elections, when the councils of the newly formed entities are elected.

Brussels

The municipal councils of the 19 municipalities were elected.

Flanders

The Flemish decree of 16 July 2021 reformed the local electoral process, abolishing compulsory voting in Flemish local elections.^[3] Voting remains obligatory in Brussels and Walloon local elections.

The decree also changed several election rules for Flemish municipal elections:

the list vote is abolished; only preference votes count.
The candidate with the highest number of preferences vote of the list with the most votes has the exclusive right to form a coalition during two weeks.
The candidate with the highest number of preferences votes of the largest party within the formed coalition will be mayor by law.

This incentivises forming larger, joint lists instead of smaller, separate ones.

Turnout was lower than expected, with on average 63.6% of voters casting a ballot.^[4] Eeklo had the lowest turnout and Mesen the highest.

Municipal elections

Antwerp

Two-term mayor Bart De Wever (N-VA) was a candidate to continue governing the most populous city, Antwerp.^[5] Main challenger was PVDA with Jos D'Haese.

Gent

Open Vld (with mayor Mathias De Clercq) and Groen (with first alderman Filip Watteeuw [nl]) were the two main political parties since the 2018 elections. The current governing coalition is composed of Vooruit-Groen (a joint list in 2018), Open Vld and CD&V. Open Vld and Vooruit formed a joint "Voor Gent" list, opposing a Groen list.^[6]

Mechelen

Bart Somers, mayor of Mechelen since 2001, became Flemish minister in 2019 but returned as mayor in November 2023. He headed the "Voor Mechelen" list, composed of the Open Vld, Groen and M+ governing coalition.^[7]

Wallonia

The five provincial councils and the municipal councils were elected.

In eight municipalities, only one electoral list was submitted: their candidates were automatically elected. This was the case in Herbeumont, Houffalize, Rouvroy, Anhée, Bièvre, Vresse-sur-Semois, Limbourg and Verlaine.^[8]

References

^ "Verkiezingen 2024: Wanneer moeten we gaan stemmen? En wat kiezen we precies?" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 14 December 2023.
^ "Borsbeek keurt fusie goed en wordt in 2025 tiende district van Antwerpen" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 18 December 2023.
^ "Opkomstplicht op lokaal en provinciaal niveau afgeschaft: straks ook niet meer verplicht stemmen voor federale verkiezingen?". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 15 July 2021.
^ "Opkomstcijfers verrassend laag: meer dan een derde van de Vlamingen bleef thuis". VRT NWS. 13 October 2024.
^ "Bart De Wever is in oktober opnieuw kandidaat-burgemeester in Antwerpen" (in Dutch). VRT NWS. 20 January 2024.
^ "Liberalen en socialisten keuren stadslijst "Voor Gent" goed en trekken samen naar verkiezingen in 2024". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 26 March 2023.
^ "Bart Somers licht ontslag toe en stelt nieuwe stadslijst 'Voor Mechelen' voor: Somers wordt lijsttrekker, Calvo lijstduwer". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 7 November 2023.
^ "Elections communales : une seule liste dans quelques communes, la démocratie est-elle vraiment assurée ?" (in French). RTBF. 4 October 2024.

External links

Media related to 2024 Belgian local elections at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Elections and referendums in Belgium (list)
General/federal elections	1830 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1848 1850 1851 1852 1854 1855 1856 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1867 1868 1870 (Jun) 1870 (Aug) 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1919 1921 1925 1929 1932 1936 1939 1946 1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2010 2014 2019 2024
Regional elections	1974 1977 1978 1981 1986 1989 1990 1995 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Provincial elections	1949 1950 1954 1958 1961 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1978 1981 1985 1987 1991 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
Municipal elections	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024
Referendums	1950

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