The Belgian government has given long-term foreign residents (people who have been living in the country for 5 years or more) the right to vote. The first opportunity for them to do so will be the local elections in October, for which foreign residents had to register until the end of July if they wanted to vote. Voting is otherwise compulsory (and enforced, with fines) for Belgian nationals.
Expatica : Foreign voter drive meets with 'miserable' results
This is a clear sign of disinterest by foreign residents (mostly Africans, Arabs and Turks) in the country's social and political life.
I wonder whether non-Belgians working for EU institutions are considered as foreign residents or not. They do not pay taxes to the Belgian government (only to the EU, which is why they have special EU car plates, among others), are visa exempt, and are not really "foreigners" by EU standards (especially since they are the ones ruling the EU).
Expatica : Foreign voter drive meets with 'miserable' results
Expatica said:The new-found right to vote at October's local elections has failed to excite Belgium's foreign residents, who have stayed away from registration centres in droves.
Less than a week before the deadline, just 2,338 non-EU nationals living in Flanders have registered to vote. That represents just 5.48 percent of the target population.
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He said in Wallonia ― where an active government information campaign was waged ― the registration drive also met with little success.
This is a clear sign of disinterest by foreign residents (mostly Africans, Arabs and Turks) in the country's social and political life.
I wonder whether non-Belgians working for EU institutions are considered as foreign residents or not. They do not pay taxes to the Belgian government (only to the EU, which is why they have special EU car plates, among others), are visa exempt, and are not really "foreigners" by EU standards (especially since they are the ones ruling the EU).