Editing Politics of Belgium (section)

==Elections and parties==
{{Main|Elections in Belgium}}

===Electoral system===
The election for the Belgian Chamber of Representatives is based on a system of [[open list]] [[proportional representation]]. Several months before an election, each party forms a list of candidates for each district. Parties are allowed to place as many candidates on their lists as there are seats available. The formation of the list is an internal process that varies with each party. The place on the list is considered to play a role in the election of a candidate, by giving stronger visibility to those high on the list; this phenomenon, however, seems to have lost importance since the last electoral reform.

Belgian voters are given five options. They may:
* Vote for a list as a whole, thereby showing approval of the order established by the party;
* Vote for one or more individual candidates, regardless of his/her ranking on the list (a "preference vote");
* Vote for one or more of the "alternates" (substitutes);
* Vote for one or more candidates, and one or more alternates;
* Vote invalid or blank so no one receives the vote.

While there are some options to vote on more than one person, voters cannot vote for candidates of more than one candidate list (party). Doing so makes the vote invalid.

Political campaigns in Belgium are relatively short, lasting only about one month. They are subjected to several limitations:
* There are restrictions on the use of [[billboard (advertising)|billboards]].
* For all of their activities, campaigns included, the political parties have to rely on government subsidies and dues paid by their members.
* An electoral expenditures law restricts expenditures during the campaign.

Belgium is one of the few countries that has [[compulsory voting]], thus having one of the highest rates of [[voter turnout]] in the world.<ref>[[Voter turnout|Election turnout]] in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995, numbers from Mark N. Franklin's "Electoral Participation."</ref>

Elections for the Chamber of Representatives (Federal Parliament) are normally held every five years and coincide with those for the [[European Parliament]]. Before 2014, they were held every four years and were held separately.
The community and regional parliaments are elected every five years, and their elections coincide with those for the European Parliament as well.
Elections for the members of Belgium's municipal and provincial councils are held every six years.

The [[2018 Belgian local elections|latest municipal and provincial elections]] were held in 2018 and the latest [[2019 Belgian federal election|federal]] and [[2019 Belgian regional elections|regional elections]] were held in 2019.

===Political parties===
In Belgium, aside from a few minor German-speaking parties, most political parties are either Dutch-speaking (Flemish) or French-speaking; the only major bilingual party operating across all of Belgium is the Workers Party of Belgium (PVDA/PTB),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://europeelects.eu/european-union/belgium/|title=Belgium|website=Europe Elects|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-08}}</ref> a far-left party which first won seats in the Chamber in 2014 and as of 2019 has three seats in Dutch-speaking Flanders and nine seats in Brussels and Wallonia. Parties run their own think tanks ({{Lang|fr|centres d'études}} / {{Lang|nl|studiedienst}}), research outfits that draft policy. When their party is in power, they serve as back offices for ministers' cabinets.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pitseys |first=John |date=2018 |title=Cinq partis en quête d'auteur |url=https://www.crisp.be/crisp/wp-content/uploads/analyses/2018-09-25_ACL-Pitseys_J-2018-Politique-Cinq_partis_en_quete_auteur.pdf}}</ref>

Another important characteristic of Belgian national politics is the highly federal nature of decision making. Important decisions require both a national majority (2/3 for constitutional changes), as well as majorities in the two main language groups. On top of that, both these communities can activate 'alarm bell'-procedures, delaying changes. In addition, there are no national parties to speak of. As a result of this, Belgian decision making can be slow and expensive. On top, it tends to significantly favour the more conservative parties. Given the historically very high public expenditure, and the very strict central control over taxation, even for revenues going to regions and communities, the tendency of Belgian governments to lower taxation and especially labour charges has been limited, at least if compared to radical-liberal approaches followed by certain other countries.{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}}

====History of the political landscape====
From the creation of the Belgian state in 1830 and throughout most of the 19th century, two political parties dominated Belgian politics: the [[Catholic Party (Belgium)|Catholic Party]] (Church-oriented and [[conservatism|conservative]]) and the [[Liberal Party (Belgium)|Liberal Party]] ([[anti-clericalism|anti-clerical]] and [[progressivism|progressive]]). In the late 19th century, the [[Belgian Labour Party|Socialist Party]] arose to represent the emerging industrial working class. These three groups still dominate Belgian politics, but they have evolved substantially in character.

In the years before and after the Second World War, the linguistic problem became a stronger divisive issue in Belgian politics, with the emergence in the 1950s and 1960s of linguistic parties ([[People's Union (Belgium)|Volksunie]], [[Democratic Front of Francophones|FDF]] and [[Walloon Rally|Rassemblement Wallon]]). In the 1960s and 1970s, each of the main political parties of Belgium split into Flemish and French-speaking parties.

After [[Protests of 1968|May 68]], the country saw a growing environmental and left wing movement, that led to the foundation of the ecological parties [[Green!|Groen!]] and [[Ecolo]].

Especially in Flanders, the 1980s saw the growth of the far right, represented by the [[Vlaams Belang]], which became one of the larger parties of the country in the 1990s.

During the years surrounding the new millennium, an attempt at restructuring the political landscape took place, mainly taking the form of political [[Kartel (electoral alliance)|cartels]].

====Main political parties====
{{Main|Political parties in Belgium|Political parties in Flanders}}

Main Flemish parties:
* [[Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams|Christian Democratic and Flemish]] (CD&V)
* [[Groen (political party)|Groen]]
* [[New Flemish Alliance]] (N-VA)
* [[Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten|Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats]] (Open Vld)
* [[Forward (Belgium)|Forward]] (Vooruit)
* [[Vlaams Belang]]
* [[Partij van de Arbeid van België]] (PVDA)

Main French-speaking parties:
* [[Ecolo]]
* [[DéFI|Democratic, Federalist, Independent]] (DéFI)
* [[Les Engagés|The Engaged]] (cdH)
* [[Parti Socialiste (Belgium)|Socialist Party]] (PS)
* [[Mouvement Réformateur|Reformist Movement]] (MR)
* [[Parti du Travail Belgique]] (PTB)

German-speaking parties:
* [[Christlich Soziale Partei (Belgium)|Christian Social Party]] (CSP)
* [[Partei für Freiheit und Fortschritt|Party for Freedom and Progress]] (PFF)
* [[ProDG (Belgium)|ProDG]]
* [[Vivant]]

===Latest electoral results and government formation===
{{See also|List of elections in Belgium}}
* [[2018 Belgian local elections]]
* [[2019 Belgian regional elections]]
* [[2019 Belgian federal election]]
* [[2019 European Parliament election in Belgium]]
* [[2019 Belgian government formation]]