Average age of Flemish candidates for the federal elections has never been higher, fewer women with an “electable” place on the parties’ lists
The average age of the candidates standing on Flemish parties’ lists for the federal elections on 9 June is 47. Never before in the past 37 years was the average age of the candidates seeking election to the Chamber of Representatives so high. Meanwhile, the percentage of women with “electable” places, a position on the party’s electoral lists with which they stand a realistic chance of being elected, has fallen for the first time. A study by Leuven University’s (KUL) Instituut voor de Overheid has found that just 45.2% of the Flemish party’s candidates with a place on an electoral list with which that stand a realistic chance of being elected are women.
The study shows that in 1987 the average age of candidates was 40.4 years. The researchers examined the age and gender of more than 10,000 candidates that have stood on the CVP/CD&V (Christian democrat), PVV/VLD/Open VLD (liberal), SP/sp.a/Vooruit (socialist), Agalev/Groen (green), Vlaams Blok/Belang (far right) and VU/VU-ID/N-VA (Flemish nationalist) lists since 1987. The study of candidates that have stood or are standing for the far-left PVDA only covers the federal elections since 2014.
The age of female candidates in particular has increased. The average age of the women standing on the Flemish parties’ federal election lists is 47.8 years. This is 1.4 years more than the average age of the male candidates. For the first time since 1987 there are also more “old” (older than 61) candidates (15.8%) than there are “young” (younger than 30) candidates. This time around 13.2% of the candidates standing for the federal elections on Flemish parties’ lists are aged between 18 and 30.
The researchers Bart Maddens and Toine Paulissen told journalists that "The average age of candidates has never been so high. This is surprising, and hardly consistent with the campaign's earlier focus on first-time voters".
"It seems to have been more difficult for the Flemish parties to recruit younger candidates for their lists".
Fewer women in “electable” places on the parties’ lists
For the first time, the proportion of women occupying electable places on the parties’ lists has fallen. Between 1987 and 2019 it rose from 12.6% to 47.6%. However, this time around the percentage of female candidates that have a realistic chance of getting elected has falled to 45.2%.
Groen, Vlaams Belang and Open VLD in particular seem to have fewer women in electable places on their lists. Meanwhile, CD&V has significantly increased the number of women with electable places on its federal election lists.
Although parties are required to have as many women as men on their lists and the first two candidates on the list must be of different sexes, “Political parties may put a woman in second place on the list because they have to, but the electable places below her often go to male candidates”, the political scientist Professor Bart Maddens explains.