2024 European Parliament election in Belgium

The 2024 European Parliament election in Belgium was held on 9 June 2024 in the three Belgian constituencies (the Dutch-speaking electoral college, the French-speaking electoral college and the German-speaking electoral college) to elect the Belgian delegation to the European Parliament. It is part of the 2024 European Parliament election and the 2024 Belgian elections. It was the tenth European Parliament election held in Belgium, and the first to take place after Brexit.^[1]

2024 European Parliament election in Belgium

← 2019 9 June 2024 2029 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 22 Belgian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	93.9%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tom Vandendriessche Johan Van Overtveldt Sophie Wilmès Party VB N-VA MR Alliance Patriots ECR RE Last election 3 seats, 12.05% 3 seats, 14.17% 2 seats, 7.06% Seats won 3 3 3 Seat change 0 0 1 Popular vote 1,034,112 995,868 906,304 Percentage 14.50% 13.96% 12.70% Swing 2.45% 0.21% 5.64%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Marc Botenga Wouter Beke Bruno Tobback Party PVDA-PTB CD&V Vooruit Alliance GUE/NGL EPP S&D Last election 1 seats, 8.42% 2 seats, 9.17% 1 seat, 6.45% Seats won 2 2 2 Seat change 1 0 1 Popular vote 763,340 594,968 570,067 Percentage 10.70% 8.34% 7.99% Swing 2.28% 0.83% 1.54%   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Elio Di Rupo Sara Matthieu Hilde Vautmans Party PS Groen Open Vld Alliance S&D European Greens RE Last election 2 seats, 9.74% 1 seat, 7.81% 2 seats, 10.07% Seats won 2 1 1 Seat change 0 0 1 Popular vote 534,828 450,781 410,743 Percentage 7.50% 6.32% 5.76% Swing 2.24% 1.49% 4.31%
Largest party within each province + German electoral college. Largest party within each arrondissement + German electoral college. Largest party within each municipality.

Electoral system

Compared to last election, Belgium is entitled to one more MEP assigned in 2023 after a pre-election assessment of the Parliament composition based on the most recent population figures.^[2] Each constituency elects its members through semi-open list proportional representation with seats allocated through D'Hondt method and no electoral threshold.^[3] The 22 Belgian seats are divided among the three constituencies as follows:

• 13 MEPs to be elected by the Dutch-speaking electoral college (one more than in 2019)^[4]
• 8 MEPs to be elected by the French-speaking electoral college
• 1 MEP to be elected by the German-speaking electoral college

Both Belgian and other non-Belgian EU citizens residing in the country are entitled to vote in the European elections in Belgium. No registration is needed for Belgian citizens, while other EU citizens residing in Belgium need to register in the municipality of their residence no later than 31 March 2024. Belgian citizens residing abroad are required to register by 29 February 2024 to be able to vote from the country where they reside. This will be the first election in Belgium where people from the age of 16 have the right to vote. People aged 16 and above are obligated to vote.^[5][6][7] The electoral roll will be closed on 1 April 2024.^[8]

In order to participate in the election, proposed candidate lists must either be signed by at least five members of the Federal Parliament (House or Senate) or collect supporting signatures. For the latter option, 5000 signatures each are required for the Dutch and French-speaking electoral college and 200 for the German electoral college.^[9]

Outgoing delegation

Belgian parties in the European Parliament in the ninth legislature (2019–2024)

Group		21	Dutch-speaking electoral college		12	French-speaking electoral college		8	German-speaking electoral college		1
	EPP	4		Christian Democratic & Flemish (CD&V)	2		Humanist Democratic Centre (cdH)	1		Christian Social Party (CSP)	1
	RE	4		Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD)	2		Reformist Movement (MR)	2
	ECR	3		New Flemish Alliance (N-VA)	3
	Greens-EFA	3		Groen	1		Ecolo	2
	ID	3		Vlaams Belang (VB)	3
	S&D	3		Socialist Party Differently (sp.a)	1		Socialist Party (PS)	2
	GUE/NGL	1					Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB)	1

Retiring incumbents

See also: List of MEPs who stood down at the 2024 European Parliament election

Name	Party		EP Group		First elected	Terms	Date announced	Source
Geert Bourgeois		N-VA		ECR	2019	1	8 October 2021	[10]
Guy Verhofstadt		Open Vld		RE	2009	3	8 May 2023	[11]
Gerolf Annemans		VB		ID	2014	2	6 October 2023	[12]

Lead candidates

Lead candidates for the European Parliament election in Belgium in 2024

EP group		Dutch-speaking electoral college			French-speaking electoral college			German-speaking electoral college
		Party		Lead candidate	Party		Lead candidate	Party		Lead candidate
	ECR		N-VA	Johan Van Overtveldt[13]
	EPP		CD&V	Wouter Beke[14]		Les Engagés	Yvan Verougstraete[15]		CSP	Pascal Arimont[16]
	Greens-EFA		Groen	Sara Matthieu[17]		Ecolo	Saskia Bricmont[18]		Ecolo	Shqiprim Thaqi[19]
	GUE/NGL		PVDA	Rudi Kennes[20]		PTB	Marc Botenga[21]
	ID		VB	Tom Vandendriessche[22]
	RE		Open VLD	Hilde Vautmans[23]		MR	Sophie Wilmès[24]		PFF-MR	Sacha Brandt[25]
									Vivant	Alain Mertes[26]
	S&D		Vooruit	Bruno Tobback[27]		PS	Elio Di Rupo[28]		SP	Charles Servaty[29]
	none		Volt	Sophie in 't Veld[30]
			VoorU	Marta Barandii[31]
						DéFI	Fabrice Van Dorpe[32]
						Anticapitalist Left	Denis Verstraeten
									ProDG	Liesa Scholzen[33]

Opinion polls

This section is transcluded from Opinion polling for the 2024 Belgian elections#European Parliament election

Dutch-speaking

Date(s) conducted	Polling firm	Publisher	Sample size	N‑VA ECR	VB ID	Open Vld Renew	cd&v EPP	Groen G/EFA	Vooruit S&D	PVDA Left	Others	Lead
23 Feb – 5 Mar 2024	Ipsos	Euronews[34]	1,500	18.7% 3	23.5% 3	12.7% 2	11.5% 1	9.7% 1	13.8% 2	9.3% 1	0.8% 0	4.8%
26 May 2019	European election			22.4% 3	19.1% 3	15.9% 2	14.5% 2	12.4% 1	10.2% 1	4.9% 0	0.5% 0	3.3%

French-speaking

Date(s) conducted	Polling firm	Publisher	Sample size	PS S&D	Ecolo G/EFA	MR Renew	PTB Left	LE EPP	DéFI NI	Others	Lead
23 Feb – 5 Mar 2024	Ipsos	Euronews[34]	1,500	26.7% 2	12.8% 1	22.8% 2	19.2% 2	11.0% 1	2.8% 0	4.7% 0	3.9%
26 May 2019	European election			26.7% 2	19.9% 2	19.3% 2	14.6% 1	8.9% 1	5.9% 0	4.7% 0	6.8%

Results

By party By European Parliamentary group
Party				Votes	%	Seats	+/–
French-speaking electoral college
	RE		Reformist Movement	900,413	34.88	3	1
	S&D		Socialist Party	529,697	20.52	2	0
	The Left		Workers' Party of Belgium	397,055	15.38	1	0
	EPP[lower-alpha 1]		The Committed Ones	368,668	14.28	1	0
	G/EFA		Ecolo	259,745	10.06	1	1
	NI		DéFI	75,243	2.91	0	0
	NI		Anticapitalist Left	50,758	1.97	0	0
Total				2,581,579	100.00	8	0
Dutch-speaking electoral college
	ID[lower-alpha 2]		Flemish Interest	1,034,112	22.94	3	0
	ECR		New Flemish Alliance	995,868	22.09	3	0
	EPP		Christian Democratic and Flemish	594,968	13.20	2	0
	S&D		Forward	570,067	12.64	2	1
	G/EFA		Green	450,781	10.00	1	0
	RE		Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	410,743	9.11	1	1
	The Left		Workers' Party of Belgium	366,285	8.12	1	1
	NI		For You	47,243	1.05	0	New
	NI		Volt Belgium	38,713	0.86	0	0
Total				4,508,780	100.00	13	1
German-speaking electoral college
	EPP		Christian Social Party	15,169	34.93	1	0
	NI		ProDG	7,134	16.43	0	0
	RE		Perspectives. Freedom. Progress.	5,891	13.57	0	0
	RE		Vivant	5,281	12.16	0	0
	S&D		Socialist Party	5,131	11.82	0	0
	G/EFA		Ecolo	4,819	11.10	0	0
Total				43,425	100.00	1	0
Valid votes				7,133,784	93.87
Invalid/blank votes				465,974	6.13
Total votes				7,599,758	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				8,537,902	89.01
Source: IBZ (in French, Dutch, and German);

Elected members

Party		Elected members
Dutch-speaking electoral college (13)
	Vlaams Belang (3)	Tom Vandendriessche, Barbara Bonte, Gerolf Annemans
	New Flemish Alliance (3)	Johan Van Overtveldt, Assita Kanko, Kris Van Dijck
	Christian Democratic & Flemish (2)	Wouter Beke, Liesbet Sommen
	Vooruit (2)	Bruno Tobback, Kathleen Van Brempt
	Groen (1)	Sara Matthieu
	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (1)	Hilde Vautmans
	PVDA (1)	Rudi Kennes
French-speaking electoral college (8)
	Reformist Movement (3)	Sophie Wilmès, Olivier Chastel, Benoît Cassart
	Socialist Party (2)	Elio Di Rupo, Estelle Ceulemans
	Workers' Party of Belgium (1)	Marc Botenga
	The Committed Ones (1)	Yvan Verougstraete
	Ecolo (1)	Saskia Bricmont
German-speaking electoral college (1)
	Christian Social Party (1)	Pascal Arimont

Groups

From 2024 European Parliament election#Groups formed

Alliance		Seats
	Renew Europe (RE)	5
	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D)	4
	Patriots for Europe (Patriots)	3
	European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)	3
	European People's Party (EPP)	3
	European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)	2
	Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA)	2
	Non-Inscrits	0

Notes

1. The Committed Ones joined Renew after election
2. Flemish Interest joined Patriots after election

References

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3. Oelbermann, Kai Friederike; Pukelsheim, Friedrich (July 2020). "The European Elections of May 2019" (PDF). europarl.europa.eu. p. 14.
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5. "Belgium - How to vote". European elections 2024: all you need to know. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
6. "Jongeren vanaf 16 jaar mogen voortaan stemmen bij de Europese verkiezingen". VRT. 21 October 2021.
7. Arnoudt, Rik (21 March 2024). "Jongeren van 16 of 17 jaar zullen dan toch moeten gaan stemmen voor Europese verkiezingen". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
8. "EU-BURGER IN BELGIË ?". Federal Public Service Interior.
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13. Tommy Thijs en Jan Straetmans, "Overzicht. Wie zijn de lijsttrekkers in uw provincie voor de verkiezingen van volgend jaar?", De Morgen, 28 November 2023.
14. DBI, "CD&V duwt oud-voorzitter Beke naar Europees lijsttrekkerschap", De Tijd, 18 October 2023.
15. Elisabeth Degryse et Pierre Kompany seront têtes de liste fédérales à Bruxelles pour Les Engagés, Le Soir, 28 september 2023.
16. CSP mit Frühstart: Franssen und Arimont auf Parteitag als Spitzenkandidaten für Wahlen von 2024 bestätigt, Ostbelgien Direkt, 19 maart 2023.
17. lto, "Sara Matthieu Europees lijsttrekker voor Groen", Het Belang van Limburg, 25 November 2023.
18. Ecolo désigne Saskia Bricmont et Olivier De Schutter pour emmener sa liste européenne, 7sur7, 12 november 2023.
19. (in German)Ecolo Ostbelgien nominiert Shqiprim Thaqi als Spitzenkandidat für Europawahlen, Grenzecho, 6 december 2023.
20. Vakbondsman Rudi Kennes is Europees lijsttrekker voor PVDA: “Voor de sociale rechten van de werkende klasse”, Het Nieuwsblad, 11 december 2023.
21. Nicolas De Decker, Benjamin Hermann, and Thomas Bernard, "Pour qui allez-vous pouvoir voter? Découvrez tous les candidats aux élections de 2024 (outil interactif)", Le Vif, 22 December 2023.
22. Pieter Lesaffer, "Vlaams Belang stelt als eerste partij al haar lijsttrekkers voor, en verrast met Lode Vereeck op Antwerpse Kamerlijst", Het Nieuwsblad, 14 October 2023.
23. Hilde Vautmans trekt Europese lijst voor Open Vld in 2024: “Ze is de geknipte persoon om de liberale visie naar de kiezer te brengen”, Het Laatste Nieuws, 9 oktober 2023.
24. "Sophie Wilmès à l’Europe, Valérie Glatigny au fédéral bruxellois, le MR achève ses grandes manœuvres pour les listes électorales", RTBF, 24 February 2024.
25. PFF-Neujahrsempfang: Spitzenkandidaten für die kommenden Wahlen präsentiert, BRF, 12 January 2024.
26. "Definitieve afsluiting van de kandidatenlijsten". Ministry of the Interior (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 April 2024.
27. Cisse Michiels (28 November 2023). "Bruno Tobback trekt Europese lijst Vooruit". vrt nws. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
28. Nicolas Zinque, "Elio Di Rupo sera bien tête de liste PS aux élections européennes", Sudinfo, 30 November 2023.
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30. JP, "Sophie in 't Veld verkozen tot lijsttrekker van Volt België voor de Europese Verkiezingen", Bruzz, 28 October 2023.
31. "Definitieve afsluiting van de kandidatenlijsten". Ministry of the Interior (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 April 2024.
32. Ca.Pa, "Élections 2024 : le Conseil Général de DéFI s’est accordé sur une liste", Bx1, 16 March 2024.
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