Average age of candidates is 43

5 June 2007

BRUSSELS – The average age of the candidates for the parliamentary elections is 42.8 years. That is younger than in the last general elections in 2003 (44.3 years) and in 2004 (43.7 years).

This has emerged from a study by the Centre for Political Science at the Catholic University of Louvain., which studied the profile of all 968 Flemings.

Socialist Party SP.A-Spirit has the youngest candidates on its list, with an average age of 40.5 years. The Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V)/New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) follows with an average candidate age of 41.1 years. Green party Groen! comes in third place with 42.3 years, and far-right Vlaams Belang has the oldest candidates, with an average age of 46.4 years.

About a third of candidates are administrative workers or executives, 25 percent are career politicians, and 20 percent are self-employed. Only a small minority (1.7 percent) is made up of labourers.

Subject: Belgian news