Vlaams Belang largest party in Flanders, predicts election poll

If elections were held today, Vlaams Belang would be the largest political party in Flanders with 26.8 per cent of the votes. In Wallonia, the MR and PS would obtain an equal score of 22.6 per cent, while the MR would be the biggest winner in Brussels with 23.1 per cent. That predicts the so-called ‘Big Poll’ of the Belgian media Het Laatste Nieuws, VTM Nieuws, Le Soir and RTL.

The ‘Big Poll’ is an election poll that was conducted online between 14 and 20 May by market research company Ipsos among 3,600 Belgians: 2,000 Flemings, 1,000 Walloons and 600 Brussels residents.

With 26.8 per cent, the far-right party Vlaams Belang would leave N-VA far behind. The Flemish-nationalist, liberal-conservative N-VA stays just above the 20 per cent mark. The third party is social democratic party Vooruit with 14.3 per cent, a little more than the Christian democrats of CD&V, who would convince 12.2 per cent of the voters. The far-left party PVDA would with 8.9 per cent just be ahead of the liberal party Open VLD of prime minister Alexander De Croo, which would only obtain 8.2 per cent of the votes. The poll doesn’t bring good news for green party Groen, which lags behind with 6.6 per cent.

In Wallonia, the socialists of the PS and liberals of MR would both get 22.6 per cent of the votes. Centrist party Les Engagés is moving up to 18.1 per cent. The PTB, the French name of far-left party PVDA, gets 14.5 per cent. The French-speaking green party, Ecolo, also scores badly here with just 8.8 per cent.

In Brussels, the MR would be the biggest party with 23.1 per cent, followed by PVDA-PTB with 19.8 per cent. The PS would drop to third place with 15.2 per cent of the votes and Ecolo would have to be satisfied with just 12.5 per cent.

According to the poll, Bart De Wever of N-VA remains Flanders' most popular politician. Vlaams Belang president Tom Van Grieken follows in second place and prime minister Alexander De Croo of closes the top three. In both Wallonia and Brussels, former prime minister Sophie Wilmès of the MR gets the highest scores, followed by PVDA-PTB president Raoul Hedebouw. ​

^{#FlandersNewsService | Vlaams Belang president Tom Van Grieken ​ © BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK}