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Question

hello,

I ask the Dutch people in the commune please:
As I understand French better, I want to choose FR as language choice but I wish to vote for Flemish parties.

Even if I choose French language in the election, can I vote for Dutch parties? I do not want to make a mistake.

Thanks for the kind answers only.

becasse

I suspect that the only word on the voting papers is Liste or Lijst, everything else is names, either of the candidates themselves or of their list/party name.
And I don't think that you get a language choice, in Bruxelles/Brussel it depends on the language of your ID card (ie your official language) and in the facility communes you can ask for the convocation in the 'other' language but you would get exactly the same list of names to vote for.

May 18, 2019 13:46
J

You need to tell us:
- Are you Belgian?
- Which region do you live in?
- Do you live in a "facilities" commune?

As this is not a kind answer, please accept my reprimand for your rudeness.

May 19, 2019 00:21
kasseistamper

You seem to misunderstand the situation.
This is an English language website targetted at expats and covering the whole of Belgium thus it is unlikely that 'Dutch people' will use this site - and, I guess, neither will 'French people'.
You give no clue as to which commune you are asking about though I'm sure that it isn't mine - we all speak Dutch/Flemish here. Similarly there are communes where all the people speak French.
If I wanted the information that you are looking for, I would ask my neighbours as they will be familiar with the local options.

May 19, 2019 11:57
motherandchild

I have seen some Dutch people in these forums before so I am writing to them. It is not only expats reading the Bulletin. I am just against the people who give rude replies, especially when they understand from the names that they are women. Some rude men are sitting and behaving like they know the whole world. I am not asking anything to these types so they should keep their comments to themselves. I have encountered many kind answers here so this is a forum for me too.

May 19, 2019 15:32
lmbsie

In Brussels, you choose a language when you start the electronic voting process, but you do see all of the parties, both French- and Dutch-language parties. So you can vote for any of them that you want. It hasn't always been this way; this is in fact the first election that you get names of all parties and not just the ones associated with your language choice.

May 20, 2019 10:14
becasse

I wasn't aware of the changed procedure in Bruxelles/Brussel when I wrote my reply above. However that makes it even more important that the OP realises that she can only vote for ONE list, either by voting for the list itself (placing red dot in the circle against the list name) or by voting for some (or even just one) of the candidate names on a list (placing the red dot in the circles alongside the names). Any attempt to vote for names from more than one list will render the vote void.
Voting for individual candidates on a list rather than the whole list can alter the choice of candidates elected for that list - remember this is proportional representation.

May 20, 2019 10:34
motherandchild

Thanks for all the answers. This language thing is very important for expats because you may know French as it happens to be a more common language but you may sympathies with the Flemish parties. Then it is important to know if you can select French but vote Flemish.

May 20, 2019 11:25
motherandchild

Becasse, I read your answer and I think you phrased it well but just to make sure, I will ask again. Say, I selected three candidates from a list, then do I need to also press the list button or not? I do not want my selections to be invalid. From what you wrote, I do not need to select the list also, when I choose individual candidates. Thank you very much for your answer.

May 20, 2019 11:28
becasse

If you have voted for three individual candidates from the XYZ list then you have also, automatically, voted for that (ie XYZ) list and there is no need to press that button too. If you should happen to hit it, then it will be disregarded but you will still have voted for the list by voting for individual candidates from it.

May 20, 2019 13:10
motherandchild

OK, thanks a lot for clarifying.

May 20, 2019 18:53

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