Belgian Municipal Elections - Mandatory Voting & Political Spam Mail
So, last Sunday I had to go vote for the local elections for the municipality I live in. Since voting is mandatory, you'll see your entire village or town at the polling stations, so you might bump into people you haven't seen for years, which is pretty nice in my opinion.
I personally don't really mind the mandatory voting. Sure it's a bit of a hassle to get out of bed early on a Sunday, but I think it's important to participate in the democratic process. I don't mind if you disagree with this though, this might all sound a bit weird if you're from a country where voting isn't mandatory.
Politicians Coming Out of the Woodworks!
One thing that I did find a little bit annoying, was that I had received a political campaign letter from someone I used to go to high school with. The letter had no stamp on it, just my full name handwritten on the envelope.
I hadn't heard from this guy in years, certainly not after getting out of high school. Then when they need something from you, they send you a letter to vote for them in the elections. That literally has the opposite effect on me, I mean I probably would have voted for him if I just saw his name on the ballot, but after receiving this personalized spam letter it kinda rubbed me the wrong way.
I received the letter one week before the election, so I just saw it as a quick and dirty way to get some last minute votes. I'm not about to reward politicians for using these kinds of tactics... Their party lost the most amount of seats in these elections, so I think I wasn't the only one who was annoyed.
Talking Politics with my Armenian Hairdresser
Usually, us Belgians don't really like to talk about politics, most of us don't really talk about who we vote for. I've had a funny conversation about that with my hairdresser about that. She's originally from Armenia and was surprised that no-one wanted to share who they voted for.
I didn't really mind sharing, it meant that we could an interesting conversation about politics while she was cutting my hair. I was really surprised to hear that she actually knew quite a bit about Belgian politics, especially since she wasn't a Belgian citizen and couldn't vote herself. Heck, she was more informed than a lot of 'native' Belgian people. Aside from politics, we also talked a bit about Bitcoin, that's definitely the first time I've talked about crypto with my hairdresser...
In our municipality (Tremelo), the Christian-Democrats were the biggest winners, which was the first time in more than a decade that they achieved electoral victory here. They're a right-leaning party, but also very centrist. Right parties in Belgium are completely different than Right parties in the US, just so you know.
Next year we'll have to go to the polling stations again for the federal and EU elections. I don't really think there will be much change, but we'll see. I'm quite happy here as it is now, so I'm not too worried. Though a lot of Belgian might disagree with me on this.
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That is awesome that it is mandatory to vote. I wish it were that way in the US. Voter apathy is so rampant over here. It causes a lot of problems. What are the consequences if you don't vote?
In theory you should get a fine, but it's rarely enforced. I think it's around 80 euros for the first 'offense'
I like the idea of Mandatory voting, so many do not vote and then complain about who is elected, at least one should vote and have there say
I generally avoiding talking politics apart from a very small select few people
Leuk dat er hier nog Belgen zijn. Maar jammer genoeg is democratie een illusie al die kartelvormingen en afspraken onderling. Stemmen is nu eenmaal een noodzakelijk kwaad :) groeten.
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I never knew that voting was mandatory in Belgium! I know that Australia has mandatory voting. I think it's dreadful to force people to vote. I know this is an extreme example, but what if the ballot choices were Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot? I know our current politicians aren't that bad, but sometimes I think it's going that way!
I don't vote in national elections because I believe the Westminster political system is corrupt, and I refuse to give my consent to a corrupt system. I do go to the polling station, but I do a protest vote. But I still vote in local elections.
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