Although political scientist Nicolas Bouteca says he is not against a cordon sanitaire, he will not become “hysterical” if it is broken. He said this in an interview with weekly magazine ‘t Pallieterke.
A few weeks ago, Jong Groen co-chair Kilian Vandenhirtz pleaded in ‘De Appointment on Friday’ for a cordon sanitaire around both the Vlaams Belang and the PVDA-PTB. Political scientist Nicolas Bouteca (UGent) is not against a cordon sanitaire. “But I won’t get hysterical if it’s broken,” it sounds.
Bouteca believes that political parties themselves should be able to make the choice not to govern with PVDA or Vlaams Belang. “I would find it very undemocratic if political parties had to form a coalition with those parties,” he explains.
Virgins of Flanders
If the ambition is to get PVDA and Vlaams Belang small, according to Bouteca, the other parties have no choice but to govern with them. “Comparative voter research shows that governing costs voters,” he says. “Either those radical parties are cursed by internal scandals, or because they have to share the burden of responsibility. PVDA and Vlaams Belang are the only ‘virgins of Flanders’, because they have never governed. Their great electoral strength lies in the cordon.”
Read the full interview with political scientist Nicolas Bouteca (UGent) below:
2023-06-11 15:55:35
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