Vlaams Belang has done better than PVDA

The most radical parties exert a great influence on the campaign. But besides all the parallels, there is one notable difference in the positions of Vlaams Belang and PVDA.

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The focus on an imminent victory for Vlaams Belang makes Flanders sometimes forget that not one, but two radical parties with a tailwind are competing for the vote of those who want to overhaul the system. The Janus face of the political extremes showed itself fully on May 1. At the complete other end of the spectrum, the PVDA/PTB is about to break through. A parallel can be drawn in the simplicity of their enemy image, in how radically they extend the protection of their electorate, and in the great influence they thus exert on the campaign. But what is particularly revealing is how differently the question of government turns out for the far left than for the far right.

For the PVDA/PTB, the prospect of participation in power threatens to become a sore point. The ball has been going back and forth between the PS and the PTB for months, with the mirage of a large left front at stake. The PS plays the double game in which the socialists say they welcome all support on the left, but regret in advance that the PTB will not want to provide it out of doctrinaire stubbornness. The PTB builds its electoral strategy by opposing ‘the liberal politics’ of the PS. For years, the PTB has swore that it will only join the government if it can realize the revolutionary break with capitalism. But in this campaign the question arises as to where the left-wing voter uses his vote most efficiently. The communists are under pressure to indicate where they want to compromise. They get the ball bounced back: that they are unreliable and inflexible, their proposals are unrealistic. The burden of proof is on the challengers.

That is the mirror image of what is happening in Flanders compared to the far right. There is also a principled attitude here, but Vlaams Belang has managed to push it all the way to the center parties. Vlaams Belang is not challenged to ‘soften’ its program in order to participate in government. Other Flemish parties, the N-VA in the lead, and part of the media have allowed the party to make a feint and present itself as a ‘normal’ party, even though there has been no change in personnel, tone, approach or program. It is now a family party that has its photo taken in Plopsaland with clown Bumba, friend of the Flemish toddlers. The burden of proof as to why it is not responsible or feasible to form a coalition with Vlaams Belang lies with the other parties. The cordon sanitary itself is therefore once again the subject of debate.

The more emphatically PTB/PVDA argues that it wants to govern, the more ambiguous it becomes for it. Vlaams Belang is no longer bothered by this. On the contrary, it is not challenged on its validity, because others, from the N-VA to Vooruit, are being dragged far to the right on migration and integration, the core theme of Vlaams Belang. For example, Vlaams Belang already regulates the temperature of the water in the Flemish government bath, which it will soon be happy to enter.

DS Video | Raoul Hedebouw: “Moving forward we have to choose: with us or with the N-VA.” — © De Standaard