The Big Poll: N-VA again the largest party in Flanders

If elections were held today, N-VA would be the largest political party in Flanders ​ with 23.4%. This is what the Big Poll of Het Laatste Nieuws, VTM Nieuws, Le Soir and RTL shows. It is the first time since the 2019 elections that the party of chairman Bart De Wever again scores better than Vlaams Belang, which would convince 22.2% of the voters.

In every poll since the 2019 elections, the right-conservative and Flemish-nationalist party Vlaams Belang has been the largest party in Flanders. At one point, the party managed to win over no less than 28% of Flemish voters. The Flemish-nationalist, liberal-conservative N-VA retained second place, but that is now changing. Bart De Wever's party is again the largest in Flanders with 23.4%. That result is still below ​
​the 2019 election results, when the party obtained 25.5% of the votes. Vlaams Belang, with 22.2%, still scores remarkably better than their election victory of 18.7%.

With 14.2%, the Flemish social democratic party Vooruit achieved its best result since the elections, when it remained at 10.8%. With 11.3%, CD&V scores less well than in the 2019 elections, when the party achieved 14.2%. The christian democrats do score better than in the previous poll in June 2021, when they achieved 10%. ​

With 9.8%, the liberal party Open VLD of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is just under the symbolic 10% mark. Groen is also doing less well. With 8.4%, the Flemish green party is the smallest party according to this poll. Earlier this week, Meyrem Almaci stepped down as chairman of the party which, in addition to a poor result in the polls, has also had to deal with lingering internal struggles. The far-left opposition party PVDA, which would achieve 8.9%, is on the rise.

Although the Flemish Liberals score poorly, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Open Vld remains the most popular politician in Flanders. 54% of respondents want to see him play an important role in the coming months. In the September poll, this was still 61%. Conner Rousseau, the chairman of the socialist party Vooruit, is in second place. N-VA chairman Bart De Wever completes the top three. Minister of Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit), who gained popularity during the corona crisis, drops out of the top three.

In French-speaking Belgium, PS is again the largest party. The Socialists of chairman Paul Magnette achieve 22.4%, a less good result than in the 2019 elections. At that time, the party achieved 26.1%. The liberal MR and the far-left PTB follow with 20.4% and 19.7% respectively. The green party Ecolo, with 15%, is no longer among the three major Walloon parties. In Brussels, it remains the largest party with 20.3%. MR follows with 19.9%. PVDA-PTB also scores well with 16.4%. PS is the fourth largest party with 15.1%.

Currently, the Vivaldi government, which includes Liberals (Open VLD and MR), Socialists (Vooruit and PS), Ecologists (Groen and Ecolo) and Christian Democrats (CD&V), has a comfortable majority of 87 seats in parliament. If elections were to be held today, the seven parties together would only achieve 79 seats. That is hardly enough for a majority, which would require 76 seats. ​

The Big Poll of the Flemish media Het Laatste Nieuws, VTM Nieuws, RTL and Le Soir was conducted online by market research company IPSOS among 2,614 Belgians aged 18 and older from 15 March to 22 March 2022 (1,007 Flemings, 1,009 Walloons and 598 residents of Brussels). The maximum margin of error is 3.1% in Flanders, 3.1% in Wallonia and 4% in Brussels.

PHOTO: NV-A chairman Bart De Wever © BELGA