Belgium: initial results from the social elections

On 09 December, Belgium’s Employment Ministry presented provisional results (here in French) from the elections for employee representatives on the Committees for Prevention and Protection at Work (CPPT, established for companies at least 50 workers), and the Works Councils (WC, for companies with at least 100 workers), both of which determine trade union representation for the country. The provisional figures show a similar picture to the previous 2016 results. The CSC (Christian union) remains the leading trade union, with 51.36% of the votes cast in the CPPT (vs. 51.8% in 2016) and 50.28% in the WC (vs. 51% in 2016). The FGTB (socialist union) won 35.45% in the CPPT (vs. 35.8% in 2016) and retained its 34,97 % in the WC vote. The liberal CGSLB union was the only body to increase its share, even if only slightly, up from 12.4% in 2016 to 13.19 % in 2020 for the CPPT election and up from 12.2% to 13.13% for the WC election. In terms of seats, the Christian union has 55.71% of the seats on the company councils and 57.5% in the CPPT, where the FGTB in 33.46% and 33.25% and the CGSLB 9.47% and 9.26%. Participation rates however were down an overall 3%. After having been postponed, voting finally took place between 16 to 29 November and votes were often cast by mail or electronically, depending on the circumstances. For more on the 2016 final c.f. article No.9683.