Only 38% of Belgian voters have confidence in the new government led by Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) sworn in yesterday, according to a poll organised by Le Soir-RTL Info-Ipsos-VTM-Het Laatste Nieuws.
De Croo himself does better, with 48% confidence.
The poll was taken on the day the new government was announced and took its oath. The new team behind De Croo is almost entirely new, with many ministers taking on a government role for the first time.
With the exception of De Croo himself and former prime minister Sophie Wilmès, the only returning minster is David Clarinval (MR), although both Frank Vandenbroucke (sp.a) and Vincent Van Quickenborne held posts in previous administrations.
In addition, the poll questioned only 1,407 members of the public, a relatively low number for a nationwide poll.
Of those who responded, 47% said they had no confidence in the new administration, with 16% don’t knows.
And while a large part of the Flemish population is outraged to see the majority party N-VA relegated to the sidelines while the candidate of the seventh party by vote takes over number 16 Rue de la Loi, the regions were broadly aligned.
In the French-speaking part of the population, 41% had no confidence – despite the socialist PS, the largest party in Wallonia, being in government – while among Dutch-speakers the figure was slightly lower at 35%.
The exclusion of N-VA as well as Vlaams Belang found support among 34% of Flemish people, and 44% nationwide. Among francophones alone, only 21% thought the exclusion of the majority parties was unacceptable, while 55% were fine with it.
However, after 493 days without a fully-fledged government, the second-longest period of any country in history (Belgium also holds the top spot), a small majority of Belgians – 58% – were just happy there was any kind of government at all, the poll found.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
