Today, our party, Voor U, was granted a number in the voting ballot—17. It has not been easy to get it. All other parties got their numbers on the 5th of April, although the official deadline for introducing the lists of candidates was the 13th of April. Somehow, all the parties besides Voor U had the privilege of being visible.
Voor U is a new party established in December 2023. It is incredibly difficult to get through the silence of the government-subsidized Flemish media VRT.
Voor U is a liberal alternative to the right and far-right parties in Flanders, but it does not get visibility among Flemish people – they simply do not know that it exists. Besides, the party has no means or allowances to campaign at the same level of exposure as other traditional parties that get governmental support.
Despite all the barriers, in just a few months, Voor U got more than 7500 signatures from ordinary Flemish people who confirmed that they stand behind the party’s right to be included in the Belgian political landscape. The determination of these people to support the party was stronger than the failure of the governmental website to register the signatures.
The silencing of 350 candidates of Voor U and thousands of its supporters has been reformed by the non-inclusion of the party in the famous Voting Test by VRT (Stemtest), where future voters could identify themselves with the party’s position on different topics such as abortion, Ukraine’s EU integration or migration.
The Stemtest is a sort of a game in which millions of Flemish participated. It created a picture in the mind of the voter in which the party Voor U was absent. Only traditional parties that already had seats in parliament were included.
For these millions, this Test may have been the only one time between now and the voting day itself when they could have seen the the logo of the party. The test of the governmentally subsidized TV station influences the minds of the voters beforehand and thus falsifies the results in a hidden way.
This is not acceptable in a democracy. Belgium is among the countries that stand for diversity and inclusion, and Flanders is the region of opinionated people who genuinely stand for justice.
We pursue democracy. And if you pursue justice, you can fill in the test to see how your views coincide with the program of the party Voor U and share it with your Flemish friends.
