In the last full sprint towards the elections, one of the leading members of the Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang party Filip Dewinter went on a striking campaigning trip – not to somewhere in Flanders, but to the Spanish Costa del Sol.
Dewinter went to Benidorm – a city well-known for the many Flemish people (unofficially) residing there – to campaign on Monday evening. He organised a "Benidorm Flemish" party in the Marina hotel with several Flemish DJs and, in Dewinter's words, "a dash of politics."
"I meet more Flemish people here on the dyke along the coast than on the Turnhoutsebaan in the Antwerp district of Borgerhout. We must be and remain boss in our own country," Dewinter said during his speech at the party.
"The Costa Blanca is Flemish already. Let's also make Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent Flemish and safe again," he added.
The Flemish people living on the Spanish coast who are domiciled in Spain can cast their vote by sending it to the Belgian Embassy, Dewinter pointed out. "Those who still have their official address in Belgium can give a proxy to someone else. I will take about 100 proxies back with me."
‘Ik ontmoet meer Vlamingen op de dijk van #Benidorm dan op de Turnhoutsebaan in #Borgerhout! De Costa Blanca is al Vlaams… Laten we van #Antwerpen, #Brussel en #Gent opnieuw Vlaamse en dus veilige steden maken!’ @vlbelang meeting in #Benidorm pic.twitter.com/SziQ67cAWs
— Filip Dewinter (@FDW_VB) May 28, 2024
While it is true that most people who cannot go to the polling booth themselves opt to give their proxy to someone they trust, this is not a requirement. Those going to vote in Flanders do not need to have a link with the person in Spain who gave them the proxy.
In a video about the event posted to his social media channels, dozens of Flemish people in their fifties and sixties can be seen dancing in the hotel lobby, with a large "Make Flanders ours again" campaign banner in the background, while parts of Dewinter's speech can be heard.
Great Flemish replacement?
Dewinter's post triggered indignation online, with commenters calling him and his party "incredibly hypocritical" for being fine with Flemish people emigrating to the south of Spain (while still voting in Belgium) and at the same time wanting to keep immigrants out of Belgium.
"Is this the same Filip Dewinter who cannot tolerate [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan coming to Europe before the Turkish elections? Erdoğan visits the Turks in Europe, Dewinter the Flemish in Benidorm," one person commented. "What is the difference?"
Others wanted to know what the locals thought of "all this Flemish immigration" and ironically warned the Spanish population of the "great Flemish replacement" – referencing the far-right 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory stipulating that there is a deliberate attempt to replace the native (usually white) population with non-natives, typically of a different ethnicity.
After Benidorm, Dewinter continued his tour of the Flemish bars on the Spanish coast and moved on to Calpe.
