BRUSSELS – If the law obliging Belgians to vote were scrapped Vlaams Blok would lose almost half its support, it was reported on Wednesday.

A survey carried out by the market research group Institut GFK concluded that 48 percent of voters for the extreme right wing party would stay at home.

In contrast, two-thirds (66 percent) of VLD voters would still head to the ballot box to support their party, even if the law didn’t legally force them to vote.

Some 73 percent of voters for the CD&V-N-VA coalition would also continue to do their democratic duty, as would 72 percent of those backing the socialist alliance SP.A-Spirit and 80 percent backing green party Groen!

Judging from the survey, francophone Belgians value the vote more highly than their Flemish counterparts – in Flanders only 63 percent of the population polled said they would definitely vote if the law left the decision up to them.

But in Wallonia, the figure was 78 percent. In largely francophone Brussels, 85 percent said they would definitely still go to the ballot box on voting day.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news