Elections 2024: What can parliaments do when there are no governments?

Local elections will take place at municipal and provincial levels in Belgium on Sunday, 13 October. In the run-up to the vote, Belga English explores the main issues to watch out for and provides a daily overview of events.

-Will Belgium soon have broader possibilities for abortion? Will the Brussels region go backwards concerning the introduction of a low-emission-zone LEZ, and even the limitation of traffic in the city centre? The answers to these two questions are impossible to give, since there are parliaments that could vote, but there are no governments (and thus no majorities) to make deals.

All regional and federal parliaments in Belgium are up and running, after the elections of 9 June. But the governments of Belgium, Flanders and Brussels, are not. Political parties are negotiating but with local elections in a couple of weeks, making compromises seems impossible for the moment. This creates a major problem: in Belgium, parliaments are very weak, the major decisions are made at the level of the governments and the political parties constituting those governments.

This gives the parties not involved in the negotiations (the “opposition”) a chance to sow division, by pushing the different parties to take sides. The parties that are at present negotiating the formation of a federal government, disagree on the conditions for an abortion. And the parties that should form a Brussels government, disagree on mobility and the future of cars in Brussels. And both topics are covered extensively in the media.

Discussions on the two topics have started in the respective parliaments, but it’s unclear how they will evolve. Will the members of parliament take clear stands in the run-up to the local elections, or will they prioritise the formation of governments? It’s safe to predict discussions will linger on for weeks.

_{#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO ANTONY GEVAERT}