voting system in Belgium?
Friend of mine told me that in Belgium only tax payers can vote on elections. He explained that, for example, students or retired people cannot vote for president, goverment... Is it really true? Can someone give me more info @kochsters2004 - that still doesn't answer my question - does student can vote in Belgium
Other - Politics & Government - 3 Answers
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1 :
Voting is compulsory in Belgium; more than 90% of the population participates. Belgian voters are given five options when voting. They may: Vote for a list as a whole, thereby showing approval of the order established by the party; Vote for one or more individual candidates, regardless of his/her ranking on the list. This is a "preference vote;". Vote for one or more of the "alternates (substitutes);" Vote for one or more candidates, and one or more alternates; or Vote invalid or blank so no one receives the vote While there are some options to vote on more than one person, it should be noted that voters cannot vote for candidates of more than one candidate list (party); doing so makes the vote invalid. Elections for the Federal Parliament are normally held every four years. The regional parliaments are elected every five years, and their elections coincide with those for the European Parliament. Elections for the members of Belgium's municipal and provincial councils are held every six. The next municipal and provincial elections in 2006 and the next general election will be in 2007, the next regional elections are expected in 2009. Belgium does not have elections similar to presidential elections, where only one person can be elected; rather, seats in the parliament, city council or similar are elected, the occupants of which then vote who gets to be prime minister, mayor, governor, etc. This is probably one of the reasons why Belgium does not have a two-party political system, but that there are more than two influential parties per language region. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Belgium
2 :
Everyone in Belgium with Belgian nationality has to vote as from the age of 18.
3 :
The only Belgians that don't have to vote are the ones not living in Belgium and possible prisoners and people with serious mental health problems. And the ones living abroad are allowed to vote even if they have never paid taxes because they spent all their working lives outside Belgium. Also Belgium doesn't have a president. It is a federal kingdom with a king as the head of state and a prime minister as the head of working government.
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