Flemish nationalists still biggest by a yard

The Flemish nationalist N-VA remains by far the largest party in Flanders according to an opinion poll commissioned by VRT and RTBF News and the dailies De Standaard and La Libre.  Four other parties are vying for fourth place: the Christian democrats, greens, liberals and socialists.

N-VA does not manage to take the 30% threshold but secures the support of 27.9% of the Flemish electorate.  The N-VA performance is 4% under its result in the 2014 federal elections.  Government parties CD&V (Christian democrats) and Open VLD (liberals) too have lost ground.  CD&V loses over 3% in comparison with 2014 picking up a 14.7% share.  The liberals are on 14.2%, a slight reduction.

Opposition greens take a 14.6% share, while the socialists pick up 12.7% support, a better performance than in recent polls.  Progress too for the far right Vlaams Belang on 9.3%.  The far left PVDA (communist) takes 5.9% of the share of the vote in this poll.

If confirmed in the 26 May general election, the Flemish nationalists are in pole position to launch a bid to form the next Flemish government.  28% of those who took part in the poll said they would be voting for a different party than five years ago.  It’s especially long-established parties like the socialists, liberals and Christian democrats where there is less party loyalty.  Party loyalty is strong among the greens, the far left, the far right and even the N-VA.  

Top stories