Poll: Olivier Maingain is the most popular politician in Brussels

According to an opinion poll carried out collectively by media outlets La Libre, De Standaard, RTBF and VRT, Ecolo is the most popular political party in Brussels, followed by liberals MR and socialists PS. The most popular politician, meanwhile, is Olivier Maingain of DéFi.

The opinion poll is mean to be a barometer of how the elections would look if they were to happen today. European, federal and regional elections are scheduled for 26 May 2019.

If the results of the poll play out, it would be bad news for the socialist party, which has dipped to less than 16% in the poll, while in the previous regional election it was Brussels’ number one party with 25% of the vote.

While Maingain (pictured), president of DéFi and mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, was named the most often among voters as their favourite politician, the party itself is only in fifth place in the poll, passed over by the far-left PTB. But the popularity contest in Brussels is pretty relative: While Maingain came in at 32%, Charles Michel logged 31% in the poll, and Didier Reynders (MR) 30%.

In Wallonia, PS has a comfortable lead over MR, with the parties coming in 25% and 20% in the poll. Ecolo is hot on the heels of MR with 19.7%. It’s still, however, a loss of 6.6% for PS on the last election.

Francken carries Flanders

But the region’s most popular politicians are all socialists: Charleroi mayor Paul Magnette – number one by far, with 43% of respondents naming him – minister-president Rudy Demotte with 34% and PS president and former prime minister Elio Di Rupo at 32%.

Things are rather predictable in Flanders, where nationalists N-VA smash all other parties, with 28.3% of respondents naming it as their party of choice. N-VA is followed by Christian-democrats CD&V, with 18.7%, and liberals Open Vld, with 17.5%.

The most popular politician response is also close in Flanders, with former migration secretary Theo Francken (N-VA) coming in first with a 51% response rate. Then it gets interesting, with the Flemish choosing a French-speaker as their second-favourite politician: prime minister Michel. Third is CD&V’s Hilde Crevits, who is the region’s education minister.

One important factor: the poll was carried out in November, before the current federal government crisis that has seen N-VA step out of the majority government and into the opposition.

Photo: Thierry Roge/BELGA