With Belgium's elections taking place six months from now, it seems many voters are craving stability as a recent survey found that 20% of respondents would choose current Prime Minister Alexander De Croo to lead the country again.
The poll, carried out by research firm Incidence, asked over 1000 citizens around the country about their expectations for the Federal and Regional elections in 2024. As to who they wanted to head the next government, voters across the three country regions favoured De Croo for a second term in office.
While the current Prime Minister remained number one in Flanders, the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia, the rest of the ranking varied considerably in the different regions.
In Brussels, former Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès (MR) and Raoul Hedebouw (PVDA/PTB) completed the top three. Wallonia also opted for Wilmès in second place, followed by Paul Magnette (PS). For Flanders, nationalists Bart De Wever (N-VA) and Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang) took second and third place respectively.
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De Croo is invariably seen as one of the politicians voters count on the most, but his positive ratings are not reflected in his party's ratings: Open VLD (Flemish liberals) are at an all-time low in the polls.
When asked about how long negotiations to create a Federal Government will go on after the elections, Belgians in all three regions agreed that it would take a long time. More than one in three expect talks to last around six months, whilst one in five think they will take a year. 22% anticipate that talks will take even longer.
Just 6% believe that Belgium will have a new government within a month of the elections.
The online survey was carried out between 7 and 22 December, among a representative sample of 1,005 Belgians.
