Ahead of the elections, Ecolo is Brussels' most popular party

Ecolo is the most popular political party in Brussels, according to the latest poll, carried out as a litmus test for next month’s regional and federal elections. According to the poll, commissioned by four of Belgium’s major media outlets, the French-speaking green party is the first choice for 21.5% of respondents.

Not only is Ecolo the most popular party, it gained the most percentage points compared to the federal election results of 2014. Its current percent is 11 points higher than its 2014 result. Ecolo is riding the wave of its victory in the October local elections in which it got the most votes in three of the 19 municipalities and the second most votes in 10 more.

Behind Ecolo in the latest poll is socialist party PS at 19%, followed by liberals MR at 15.5%. That’s bad news for acting prime minister Charles Michel’s MR party, which is down 7.6 points on its 2014 election result.

In fourth place for Brussels is PTB-PVDA, a coalition of the French and Dutch-speaking workers’ party, with nearly 12%. The most popular fully Dutch-speaking party is the nationalist N-VA at 4.2%, coming after both regionalist party Défi and Christian-democrats CDH.

Maingain for the win

Interestingly, Ecolo did not make the cut when it came to Brussels residents’ favourite politician. Number one is Défi chair Olivier Maingain, the mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, where he enjoyed two re-elections for the post.

Runner-up for favourite politician is federal foreign affairs minister Didier Reynders (MR), and third place is taken by Charleroi mayor Paul Magnette (PS). Michel came in fourth, and former prime minister Elio Di Rupo (PS) rounds out the top five.

Wallonia showed similar party results, with Ecolo and PS swapping positions. PS is the top choice for 24.7% of respondents in the region, with Ecolo at 22%. MR comes third at 18.3%.

Wallonia’s favourite politician is no surprise: Charleroi mayor Magnette. He is followed by party comrade Di Rupo and Jean-Marc Nollet, co-chair of Ecolo (pictured above).

Flanders also offers no surprises: N-VA is both the top party and its chair, Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever, is the favourite politician. The favourite choice of nearly 28% of respondents, it handily beat all others parties, with the second-most popular, CD&V, coming in at just 14.7%. The Christian-democrats are neck-and-neck with green party Groen at 14.6%.

Following De Wever as Flanders’ favourite politicians are former migration secretary Theo Francken (N-VA) and Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V).

Photo: Ecolo co-chair Jean-Marc Nollet
©Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA