TITLE:
Radical Right-Wing Parties Facing the Wall of the Local? The Vlaams Belang and Local Elections (1982-2018)
AUTHORS:
Pascal Delwit
KEYWORDS:
Radical Right, Party Politics, Belgian Politics, Vlaams Belang, Local Elections, Far Right, Radical Right-Wing Parties
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.9 No.4,
October
8,
2019
ABSTRACT: Many radical right-wing parties have marked significant growth in the
last 20 years. This spectacular dynamic has received thorough attention from
the scientific community. Their electoral performance has most often been
analysed at a national level.
Analysis at sub-national levels is rare. This paper analyses the performance of
the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) in local elections in Belgium between 1982
and 2018. Our analysis shows that the Vlaams Belang was able to overcome all
institutional and political barriers in order to compete successfully at this
level. At the same time, we find that the institutionalisation process at the
local level is not a predictor of the ensuing electoral result for the party.
On the contrary, the local electoral result correlates to the national curve
and the global image of the party. In this dynamics, local elections could lead
to different outcomes for the Vlaams Belang. The 1988 and 2018 local elections
paved the way to a larger political development. On the contrary, the 2006
local elections led to a sharp political and electoral decline.