Far-right gains ground in new poll
The three Flemish parties that are in the Flemish and federal coalitions all lose ground in the poll. The Flemish nationalist N-VA is down 0.6%, the Christian democrats 1.2% and the liberals are down 1% compared with May’s poll.
The poll was compiled between 9 and 14 September. A sample of 900 Flemish voters were questioned on how they would vote if an election were held now. The margin of error is 3.2%.
Socialists move up to second place
Although the Nationalists are still first by a country mile with 27.5%, this is 4.9% less than the 32.4% they polled at last year’s federal elections.
The Flemish socialists move up to second place with 16.2% of voting intentions. This is 2.2 up on the 2014 federal election.
The Christian democrats lose ground and now have 16% of voting intentions. This is 2% less than the 18% the Christian democrats polled in last year’s federal election.
The liberals are also down from 15.5% at the election to 14.4% in the RTBF/La Libre Belgique poll. The Greens are up 1.5% on their federal election result and now poll 10.1% of voting intentions.
The most spectacular rise though is for the far-right Vlaams Belang. The party received 9.7% of voting intention in the poll. This is up 3.9% on the 5.8% it polled at last year’s federal elections.