Friday, Jul. 29, 2011

Belgium

On the Ballot

Party: Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest)
Leader: Bruno Valkeniers
Key issues: Flemish independence, multiculturalism, traditional values
Seats in Parliament: 15/150

The party won 12% of the vote in Flanders as recently as 2007, but support has waned recently with the emergence of the more moderate New Flemish Alliance. In the June 2010 elections, Party Vlaams Belang won 7.8% of the Flemish vote.

On the Fringe

Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty)
In 2006, 17 members of this neo-Nazi outfit, founded two years previously, were charged with planning terror attacks on the National Bank and plotting an army-led coup to create a fascist Flemish state. Their trial is set for December. That same year, student and BBET follower Hans van Themsche went on a racially motivated shooting spree in Antwerp, killing two.