The Belgians are still working hard to get a government put together, but in the mean time I had the chance to visit the Federal Parliament building (called the Palace of the Nation) in the capital of Brussels. I also had the chance to see the inside of the Royal Palace (twice), but no pictures are allowed inside so unfortunately I have nothing to show for it. The system that Belgium has (or had?) is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy, with a bicameral legislative branch and a very complex bureaucracy (I was told that they have the greatest number of ministers in the world, even more than China). There are multiple political parties in the country, with corresponding parties for each language community. (For example, there is a French-speaking liberal party and a corresponding Flemish-speaking liberal party.) About 60% of the population speaks Dutch (Flemish), 40% speaks French, and less than 1% speaks German, and the political system takes very much into account these cultural and linguistic differences. The two legislative bodies are the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, and the executive head is the prime minister; although, the national figurehead is actually the king (whose power is almost completely limited - in fact, he doesn't even have the right to vote). The legislative branch is voted in using open-list proportional representation, which in effect makes the country's system more party-based and less candidate-based. The way that the system works forces opposing factions to work together, which is basically the problem right now with getting a government put together. And to complicate matters even further, there are various levels of government each with their own legislative bodies and bureaucracies. For example, there are three regions (Brussels, which is bilingual; Flanders, which is mostly Flemish; and Wallonia, which is French and German) and three communities (French-speaking, Flemish-speaking, and German-speaking) each with their own administrative divisions. (And the region of Flanders has merged with the Flemish-speaking community.) And that doesn't even include the local levels (provincial and communal) or the international level (European Union). For a small country, it is quite a complex political system. So, that's Belgian government in a nutshell, or at least my interpretation. Now for some pictures:
This is a pretty blurry picture of the inside of Brussels' City Hall. (Many of the government buildings are rather dark on the inside so it was difficult to take decent quality photos.) Brussels is the bilingual capital of Belgium, part of both the French and Flemish communities. It is, however, its own separate region.
This is the outside of the Federal Palace. Note the Belgian and European Union flags. Pretty much everywhere you see a Belgian flag at a government or corporation building, there is a European Union flag, too. You might find a regional flag, too, in some places. By the way, all Belgian laws are written in both French and Dutch.
These two pictures are from the inside of the Belgian Senate. The Belgian Senate has a total of 71 senators: 40 elected directly (15 by the French Electoral College and 25 by the Flemish Electoral College), 21 chosen by the community parliaments (10 by the French parliament, 10 by the Flemish parliament, and 1 by the German council), and 10 chosen together by the first 61 senators. The princes and princess are also senators "by right," but in practice they don't cast their votes.
These two pictures are from the Chamber of Representatives. Belgium has 150 representatives, who are elected directly by 11 constituencies (proportional to population). Right now, the political parties in the Chamber are:
- PS: French-speaking socialists (26 seats)
- sp.a: Flemish socialists (13 seats)
- ecolo-Groen!: French-speaking and Flemish ecologists (13)
- MR: French-speaking liberals (18)
- LDD: Flemish, libertarian direct democrats (1)
- Open Vld: Flemish liberals (13)
- Vlaams Belang: Flemish nationalists of the Right (12)
- N-VA: Flemish nationalists (separatists) (27)
- CD&V: Flemish christian-democrats (17)
- cdH: French-speaking humanists (christian-democrats) (9)
- and one independent
I think (I hope) that I got it right :-) Belgian government is very different from that of the United States. And more confusing. Instead of one year in government like we have in the United States they should probably have five here.
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