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This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by Belga.

Cost of living drove European voters to the polls

by AI | 03.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The rising prices and the cost of living were the main drivers for both Belgians and other Europeans to cast their votes in the European elections in June. This is evident from post-election research commissioned by the European Parliament.

Posters about the European elections at the European Parliament in Brussels (photo EFE/EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET)

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From 6 to 9 June, 50.74 percent of the eligible voters in the European Union went to a polling station to elect representatives in the European Parliament. That was the highest turnout in thirty years. In Belgium, 89 percent voted, but our country is an exception because, in principle, there is a voting obligation, which this time also applied to 16- and 17-year-olds. The participation rate was slightly lower among ‘first-time voters’ (15 to 24 years) at 85 percent.

Apart from the voting obligation, rising prices and the cost of living were the main reason for voting. 49 percent of the thousand Belgian respondents in the survey identified these topics as a driving force. Across the entire EU, these concerns also drove voters most to the polls (42 percent).

In both the EU and Belgium, economic conditions were the second reason, with 41 and 42 percent, respectively. Among European voters, 34 percent cited the international situation as motivation, while in Belgium it was only 21 percent. Asylum and migration was a theme that mobilized the Belgian voter more (31 percent).

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