Errors cast shadow on first-time voters in Belgium’s triple elections

4 months ago 13

Human errors were made in the triple election that took place in Belgium on 9 June, according to experts, which granted 16-17 year-olds, who were allowed to vote only in the European elections, to also vote in federal and regional elections.

The experts, tasked with examining the regularity of the elections, focused on electronic voting used in Brussels, half of the Flemish cantons and the two German-speaking cantons.

Paper voting was not examined across the country, making it difficult to determine whether these irregularities affected the country’s overall result.

The error stems from allocating the wrong electronic cards to 16-17-year-olds, allowing them to vote in elections in which they would not normally have participated. Therefore, the paper ballot may also have been influenced. However, this does not affect the EU elections.

Worrying sample: researcher

Jérémy Dodeigne, a political scientist at the University of Namur, insisted on Matin Première on Thursday (June 27) that the analysis was only a sample and that not all the electronic votes of 16-17 year-olds—who were eligible to vote for the first time in the European elections—could have been studied. Moreover, the experts have no information on paper votes.

The problem could, therefore, be bigger than thought, though it remains hard to tell precisely.

“In the canton of Hasselt, there is an error percentage corresponding to 13% of 16-17 year-olds. That’s a really extreme figure. Elsewhere in Flanders and Brussels, the figure is between 1 and 6%,” he noted.

“This initial sample is worrying” and could significantly affect certain districts, he added, pointing out that around 250,000 16-17-year-olds were voting for the first time.

Under Belgium’s proportional system for allocating seats (the D’Hondt method), the last seat to go to one party or the other is sometimes a matter of just a few votes. “It can no longer be ruled out that this has had an impact on the final distribution of seats” in Belgium’s parliaments, the researcher said.

The Flemish Open VLD (Renew) party has requested a recount in Brussels after it lost its only Brussels seat by a dozen votes to the far-right Vlaams Belang party in the Flemish parliament.

However, it seems unlikely that voters will be called to redo the vote or even that votes will be recounted in all constituencies.

In Belgium, MPs validate their own election themselves. The validation process has already been achieved in the Brussels and Walloon parliaments, and will take place in the other parliaments next week.

(Anne-Sophie Gayet | Euractiv.com)