- Title: BELGIUM: BELGIAN GO TO THE POLLS
- Date: 18th May 2003
- Summary: (W3) HAL, BELGIUM (MAY 18 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV VOTERS LINING UP OUTSIDE POLLING STATION 0.05 2. SV VOTING MATERIALS BEING PREPARED INSIDE POLLING STATION (2 SHOTS) 0.25 3. SV/CU BALLOT BOX BEING SEALED PRIOR TO OPENING OF POLLS (2 SHOTS) 0.40 4. SV VOTERS ENTERING 0.53 5. SV/CU OF VOTING IN PROGRESS (9 SHOTS) 1.58 (W3) GHENT, BELGIUM, (MAY 16, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 6. SV/MCU VARIOUS OF PRIME MINISTER GUY VERHOFSTADT AT CLOSING ELECTION RALLY IN GHENT (5 SHOTS) 2.23 (W3) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 15 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. SV VARIOUS OF STEFAAN DE CLERCK, LEADER OF THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS, THE MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY IN FLANDERS (3 SHOTS) 2.38 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HAL,GHENT AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Reuters ID: LVAAITKXR8PD4049R8VIZ5ZKLDM2
- Story Text: Belgians went to the polls to pass judgement on Prime
Minister Guy Verhofstadt's first term in office, which brought
lower taxes, balanced budgets, legalised gay marriage but
worsened relations with the United States.
More than seven million citizens are expected to vote
on Sunday (May 18) for candidates running for parliament in
Belgium, where voter apathy has been on the rise despite
voting being compulsory.
The main battle to form the next government will be fought
in the northern region of Flanders, where the prosperous
Dutch-speaking Flemish outnumber the poorer francophones to
the south in this linguistically divided country of 10
million.
Verhofstadt, a pro-business Flemish Liberal, is running
neck-and-neck in opinion polls with rival Stefaan De Clerck of
the centre-right Christian Democratic party.
But he can rely on the Socialists and Greens who belonged
to his ruling six-party coalition to give him a majority
again.
Parties are organised along linguistic lines and obliged
to form coalitions with each other to reach a majority.
The performance of the far-right, anti-immigration Vlaams
Blok party at the polls will be closely watched as it seems
set to improve its standing from 15.4 percent in Flanders in
1999.
Its popularity in the port city of Antwerp, its base, has
risen thanks to Muslim immigrant clashes with police and a
fraud scandal that recently brought down city hall.
But a strong showing for the Blok will not likely see
Belgium follow Austria in having an extremist party in a
ruling coalition because all other parties refuse to deal with
it.
Verhofstadt is urging voters to judge his centre-left
rainbow coalition on its handling of public finances and the
economy.
It cut taxes while still balancing the budget for three
years and bringing down Europe's highest national debt as a
proportion of gross domestic product after Italy.
But growth remains sluggish and unemployment high.
Verhofstadt's coalition also passed some of the world's
most progressive laws in legalising gay marriage and
euthanasia and decriminalising the personal use of soft drugs.
Verhofstadt pledges to cut more taxes and finish
reforming a cumbersome bureaucracy, ineffective police force,
and overburdened judiciary.
De Clerck, who pledges to create jobs and improve
healthcare, is his most vocal critic as other politicians keep
their voices down with an eye on joining the next coalition.
De Clerck has lambasted Verhofstadt's foreign policy for
alienating the United States.
Belgium joined France and Germany in opposing the
U.S.-led war against Iraq, temporarily blocking efforts to
send NATO troops to boost Turkeys defences on its border with
Iraq.
A complaint filed under a Belgian law by victims of U.S.
bombing in the 1991 Gulf War against U.S. senior President
George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, former U.S.
armed forces chief, has also strained relations with
Washington.
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