The Mouvement Réformateur (Conservative-Liberals) will organise a public meeting, on September 21st, to propose the abolition of compulsory voting.
La Libre Belgique is reporting this today (Thursday).
“Compulsory voting does not serve, in any way, to strengthen interest in public affairs,” explains Georges-Louis Bouchez, the Delegate-General of MR, who is spearheading the initiative.
He goes further, “On the contrary, it merely bolsters forms of conservatism.”
Mr Bouchez considers that the obligation to vote, which is currently in force, overall grants an advantage to the PS (socialist Party), in its strongholds in Liège and Hennuyères. He says that the compulsory character of voting forces some representatives into a state of passivity, given that they are certain to be re-elected.
The MR still has to make up its mind, once and for all, as to whether it favours this potential repeal, which is not simple, entailing the need to revise Article 62 of the Constitution.
The Brussels Times
