CURFEW IN BELGIUM - AND FOLLOW-UP TO LOCAL ELECTIONS


Now it is Belgium’s turn. As of today at 12 o’clock we have a country-wide curfew. It lasts (at least) until April 5.  

It means that we are all asked to stay at home.  If we have to work, it should be tele-working. And only if that is not possible it is allowed to go to work.  You are also allowed to go shopping. And for many of us even more important:  you are allowed to go for a walk, a run or go biking.  But only alone or together with one person more from your family at a time or a neighbour.  And we are not only allowed to do that. The authorities encourage us to do it!  No meetings or get-togethers with several people are allowed. The schools, but not the kindergartens, are closed. Markets are closed. Public transport is working, but with reduced capacity. All planes in Brussels Airlines will be grounded as of Saturday. But the airport remains open.  

And important is that the borders to other countries remain open, at least for now.  Non-important travels are not allowed.

We are now entering a new time for some weeks.  Fortunately, spring is arriving with sunshine, longer days, etc.  We will bring some of our garden furniture out today!

A couple of follow-ups to previous comments:

The local elections in France on Sunday took place according to plans. The participation was lower than at the latest elections six years ago, probably due to the situation. About 35.000 municipalities had elections. And in 30.000 of them the winner(s) got more than 50 % of the votes, so the election there was final.  

In the remaining 5.000 municipalities a second round has to take place.  It was planned for Sunday, March 22. But due to the present curfew in France it is not possible.  They are now planned to take place at the end of June. And they will be full elections with all parties taking part again and with a second round for those places, where nobody reached 50 %.

In a number of big cities, incl. Paris, nobody reached the 50 %. So they will have elections again in June.

Bavaria also had local elections last Sunday. CSU is still by far the biggest party, though it – like the SPD – lost votes. The Greens gained votes.  In many places a second round of voting has to take place on March 29, because nobody reached 50 % of the votes. This is also the case in the capital, München.  

Due to the virus situation the second round on March 29 will only use voting by mail.


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