The differences are small and fall within the margin of error, but in ‘De Stemming 2023’, the latest poll by De Standaard and VRT, both the liberals and the Christian Democrats are now virtually smaller than the extreme left. PVDA. The latter is growing slightly and now polls at 9.5 percent, compared to 9.1 percent in the same poll last year. CD&V (9.2 percent) and Open Vld (9.3 percent) do not reach the symbolic threshold of 10 percent, although the Christian Democrats polled even lower last year (8.7 percent). Greenwhich managed to convince 9.4 percent of virtual voters last year, drops further to 7.9 percent.
In addition to the extreme left, the extreme right is also doing well. It Vlaams Belang virtually wins 24.6 percent of the voters, compared to 22.9 percent in the poll last year, and would therefore be the largest in Flanders by far. Forward adds almost one and a half percentage points and is now just under 17 percent in the polls, a big jump compared to the 2019 election result (10.1 percent).
The N-VA ends at 21 percent, 1.4 percentage points below the result of 2022. The Flemish nationalist party chairman Bart DeWever is the most popular politician in Flanders, although the 2,000 participants in the survey answered the question by which politician they feel best represented most often with “no one” (31 percent). De Wever follows with 12.5 percent. Forward chairman Conner Rousseau is second with 10.4 percent. He stabs Prime Minister Alexander DeCroo over (7.4 percent). Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Greeks is in fourth place with 7.1 percent.
Other politicians follow at a great distance. PVDA chairman Raoul Hedebouw and CD&V minister Hilde Crevits have to put it in places 5 and 6 with 3.7 and 2.5 percent respectively. The first green leader is federal deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter in 10th place, with just 1 percent.
“Time for different and better!”, Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken calls, following the good poll, to come to the major protest meeting of his party in Brussels. “Make the elite listen and give a deafening signal with us.”
“Of course this is just a poll, but it is still a clear signal,” responds PVDA chairman Raoul Hedebouw. “You also feel it on the street and in the companies. The PVDA is growing all over the country, and that gives hope.”