New parties still have a week to collect signatures: 'completely undemocratic'

DierAnimal, Team Fouad Ahidar, Transparency, Viva Palestina or Voor U. There is no shortage of party lists or small, non-traditional political parties in Brussels that would like to appear in the Dutch-speaking group in the regional elections in June.

If they do not receive support from the resigning Dutch-speaking Brussels MP, these lists must collect 500 signatures from the Dutch-speaking population of Brussels. This is a condition to allow the list to be submitted.

“We still need more than 400 signatures for our Dutch-language menu in Brussels, and there is a deadline we must meet,” says DierAnimal's Constance Adonis.

System failure

Time is running out, because menus must be submitted digitally next Saturday. There is only time until Friday, April 12 for paper files. Although, according to Adonis, there are all kinds of problems in collecting signatures.

Anyone who wants to support the list can sign digitally via the itsme website or using an ID card reader. “The system is full of glitches and often does not work. I had to try again six times and lost half an hour.”

Claude Archer, who heads the Dutch-language Transparency List, and Jan Woesten, leader of the Brussels party for the Flemish Parliament, also support the technical problems. “What makes it more difficult in Brussels is that the Dutch speakers we address don’t necessarily live here,” Westen says.

Identity card in French

Small parties face an additional problem when collecting signatures from Dutch-speaking residents of Brussels. Apparently not all of them have a Dutch language ID card which is necessary to support the Dutch language menu.