Not going to the voting booth, now that attendance is no longer compulsory? Perhaps a bloody night in 1902 makes you doubt: “Six Leuven residents gave their lives” | Leuven

“The Civil Guard shot live ammunition at the demonstrators.” During the Night of Blood, commemorated at the City Cemetery, six workers died in the streets of Leuven in the struggle for universal single voting rights. With compulsory attendance being abolished for the provincial council and municipal elections, this event suddenly becomes relevant again. We spoke with historian Jaak Brepoels and former minister and mayor Louis Tobback: what lessons should we learn from that dark page in history? “Do traditional parties think that Vlaams Belang or PVDA will gain fewer votes this way? That is far from certain.”