The French-speaking presence in municipalities within the Brussels Periphery is such that 62.4% of electors voting in 2014 for Brussels City Council were in favour of a French-speaking list. The statistics are derived from a study by the Centre Vives (part of the KU Leuven). This study is reported on Wednesday in Le Soir.
The share of party votes on French-speaking lists comprises votes in the six municipalities (Crainhem, Wezembeek-Oppem, Rhode Saint-Genèse, Linkebeek, Drogenbos, and Wemmel) for the Brussels area. Overall, the French-speaking vote is more significant in Linkebeek and Crainhem (70 to 80% of the votes for 2014 within Brussels City Council, according to a graph in Le Soir).
As for the parties who have benefited from this, the Reformist Movement party (MR) is the main beneficiary (26.7% of the votes within the municipalities of the Brussels Periphery), ahead of the Democratic Federalist Independent party (Défi) with 17%).
The French-speaking vote, outside of the municipalities, is equally fairly significant in the peripheral communes, which are Zaventem, Overijse, Beersel and Sint Pieters Leeuw. In such cases, the vote for the Brussels lists not being possible, Défi has profited from it, being the only French-speaking party to have introduced lists.
It is worth noting that Flemish voters in the periphery have chosen to opt for a Brussels list. Such voters especially have a tendency to choose the New Flemish Alliance (23.5%) and the Vlaams Belang party (32%).
The Brussels Times
