Suggested then obligatory, finally obligatory but not sanctioned: the vote of young Belgians – and young Europeans living in the kingdom – in the European elections in June is a soap opera full of twists and turns. In 2022, the federal government of Alexander De Croo decided, for the first time, to grant 16-18 year olds the right to go to the polls if they wished, thus following the example of Austria, Germany and Malta. A principle endorsed on December 25, 2023 by Parliament.
Until the Constitutional Court, on March 21, reconsiders this decision: the judges considered that, since Article 62 of the Basic Law makes voting compulsory, this obligation must apply to everyone, and not just adults. In other words, voting for 16-18 year olds cannot be optional.
The Court was contacted by a citizen invoking the principle of equality of all before the law. He won his case, the judges considering that the difference established between those over 18 and the others was not justified by “an overriding reason of general interest”.
3% of the electorate
All young people to the polls, then, on June 9? And under the threat of punishment, since Belgian law provides for fines of 100 euros to 250 euros for those who do not deem it useful to go to the voting booth? No way. Because the Minister of Justice, Paul Van Tigchelt, decided on March 27 that, even if they have the obligation to vote, minors who stay in bed or go fishing on June 9 will escape prosecution. . In a circular, he will instruct the attorneys general not to prosecute abstainers. And this provision cannot be challenged either before the Constitutional Court or before the Council of State.
So much the worse for the legal principles and for the fines, the latter having, in any case, become completely inapplicable: in 2019, 1.4 million voters avoided the election, by not voting or by returning a blank ballot or null. That is, in total, almost 17% of the electorate. It is estimated that, if all 16-18 year olds went to the polls in June, this would represent, at most, 3% of the electorate.
Not enough, therefore, to upset the chessboard even if political scientists are hastening to determine some trends: they indicate that young Flemings are sensitive to the propaganda of the far-right party Vlaams Belang, the Walloons being rather inclined to cast their vote on environmentalists or the radical left.
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