Elections 2024: Flanders’ greens launch final appeal after poll puts party last
Flemish green party Groen has launched a final appeal to voters, following a poll that put the party at only 6.1 per cent of the vote in Flanders ahead of Sunday’s elections. “The poll today puts things in focus: Groen needs you,” party figureheads Nadia Naji, Jeremie Vaneeckhout and Petra De Sutter said in a video on Instagram and Facebook.
The poll by Het Laatste Nieuws and VTM Nieuws, which was conducted on Monday and Tuesday and published on Thursday, shows Groen in last place in Flanders.
“Voters know what matters and still have three days to decide what kind of society they want,” said co-leaders Naji and Vaneeckhout in the video and a statement on the party’s website.
“Groen is the best guarantee of left-wing and progressive policies. That makes Groen unique and necessary in today’s coarsening political landscape, where everyone is shifting to the right.”
"Voters know what matters and still have three days to decide what kind of society they want"
In the latest episode of VTM TV show Het Conclaaf (The Conclave), broadcast on Thursday, deputy prime minister De Sutter criticised socialists Vooruit for their changing stance on issues such as migration and identity.
“We have the impression, and it is also a fact I think, that over the last five to 10 years, the attitude of Vooruit has shifted along with what is going on in Flanders, and has been hijacked, stirred up and magnified mainly by Vlaams Belang,” she said in a conversation with former Vooruit leader Conner Rousseau. “And I regret that.”
“Just because something doesn’t fit with Groen’s ideas, that doesn’t mean it is not left-wing,” Rousseau said. “That bothers me, that finger pointing.”
The final poll before the elections surveyed 2,000 adults in Flanders. It predicts far-right Vlaams Belang remaining the largest party in Flanders with 25.8 per cent of the vote. Flemish nationalists N-VA are on course to reach 20 per cent, while Vooruit would become Flanders’ third largest party with 15.6 per cent. More than one in five voters is still undecided.
“This poll is not the election result and does not have to become the reality,” Groen said in its campaign. “Every voter can still make their own decision.”
#FlandersNewsService | Groen co-leader Nadia Naji at the closing moment of the party's electoral campaign in Ghent, 6 June 2024 © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK
Related news
