Voting proved to be very complicated in certain Brussels offices. Voters had to wait in line for almost two hours. This is particularly the case in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert but also Brussels City, Laeken, Neder-Over-Heembeek, Anderlecht and certain Schaerbeek offices.
After 4 p.m., the Brussels polling stations are supposed to close, but the line is still long in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. Michel tells us to wait “since this morning” to vote. “I came back twice“, he admits. Many of you also share your frustration with us via the orange Alert us button: “Saturated polling station in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, more than 2 hours of waiting to vote. No properly marked line, no quick exit, you have to make your way through the crowd! If an incident happens, it will be a disaster!“, we are warned.
What is going on ? Valou is a municipal employee, she explains to us that it is technical problems at the ballot boxes, this morning around 10 a.m., which are causing the current queues. “The company sent one of its technicians who, not really finding the fault, used other sticks to replace the urn head, which still did not work, and called a colleague for backup. Namely that the lines were getting longer and longer, people were unhappy, which I can understand“, she says. She continues: “At that time, we tried to provide solutions, but they could not be accepted for certain things. For example, do not scan votes if there is confidentiality. We couldn’t, so we started dispatching people to other offices. We received a lot of discontent from citizens. We tried to do the best with what we could. We tried to replace, to find solutions. But there it was, it generated queues“, she explains to us.
That people face such difficulties in casting their vote is not acceptable
“The service noted that of the 33 devices which allow the recording of votes, 10 caused problems during the morning in different polling stations in the municipality“, adds the mayor of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Olivier Maingain (Challenge). “This is old equipment made available by the Region. Equipment obviously, in part, which is not in good working order“, he notes. The mayor therefore believes that it is necessary to “review the procedure” and possibly return to paper voting: “We cannot understand that people are faced with such difficulties in casting their vote, this is not acceptable.”.
Red Cross teams came to the site to distribute water and strengthen the organization.
The mayor of Woluwé-Saint-Lambert has decided that, in his municipality, offices will remain open until 6:00 p.m.
The FPS Interior did not wish to comment on the possible consequences of this decision on the counting and communication of the first results.
Elsewhere in Brussels, sometimes significant waiting times were noted on Sunday afternoon, notably in Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek, Anderlecht, densely populated areas of the city, and certain polling stations in Schaerbeek. But we have not heard of an extension of the deadline for opening polling stations.
“It is up to the presidents of the polling stations to decide, and not to the mayors.“, recalled in this regard, the acting mayor of Schaerbeek Cécile Jodogne. (DéFI).
Like this, the mayor of Molenbeek, Catherine Moureaux (PS) recalled that people waiting in line at 4:00 p.m. were considered to be “in the office“, “even if it takes another hour or two for them to vote“However, we were not a priori in such timing.
In other Brussels municipalities such as Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, everything was closed at 4 p.m.
