There are logically three types of vote for the different ballots to which you were convened this June 9, 2024 in Belgium : valid vote, blank vote and invalid vote. A vote will be void when the latter cannot be accepted for various reasons (you wrote or drew something on the ballot paper, you selected several lists or candidates from different parties, etc.). A vote will be blank when you slip it as is, without having written anything, into the ballot box (or when you have opted for the “blank vote” box on your computer ballot). L’abstention concerns citizens who did not go to their polling station at all, and therefore did not fill out any ballots.
Abstentions in Belgium? A record!
Before the elections of June 9, 2024, Pascal Dewit, political scientist at ULB explained: “The message that absenteeism is no longer sanctioned has clearly taken hold. So, I rather expect a level of participation slightly less than in 2019. The expert was right: abstention broke its previous record in Belgium. More than 1,050,000 voters (or 12.5% of the electorate) indeed shunned the polls on Sunday. i.e. 100,000 more than in 2019. These abstainers virtually represent the second party in the country, not far behind the N-VA and its 1.165 million voters. Voting is compulsory in Belgium. Abstention is theoretically punishable. fines, but prosecutions are nevertheless extremely rare, the prosecution having other priorities.
You were not voted on June 9, 2024: do you risk a fine?
Blank votes in Belgium: a decrease, in favor of the Blanco party
Blank votes, on the other hand, recorded a slight decline on Sunday compared to five years ago. There were in fact 415,912 blank ballots in the ballot boxes on Sunday, compared to 438,098 in 2019. This decrease must however be linked to the result of the Blanco party, which intended to attract votes in this niche. Indeed, their program consists of one and the same proposition: being able to vote at the federal level for an unallocated seat. “Blanco elected officials will sit in Parliament but will not be part of a majority or an opposition”, explained Laurent Ryckaert, candidate and founder of Blanco, to RTBF. The party attracted some 75,000 votes across the country on Sunday.
Elections 2024: Vote Blanco rather than white, an anti-electoral waste proposal
Are you risking anything by voting blank or invalid, or by abstaining?
Whether you opt for a blank vote, an invalid vote or a classic vote, you risk nothing : you have correctly fulfilled your civic duty. On the other hand, if you abstain, that is to say you do not show up at the polling station in your municipality, you are in default and you risk a fine.
