La Libre: "Noblesse et politique: aux élections, la particule ne fait pas le bonheur, mais elle contribue y" (Nobility and politics: in elections, the particle doesn't make you happy, but it does contribute to it)

Nobility and politics: in elections, the particle doesn't make you happy, but it does contribute to it ©La Libre

So much so, in fact, that there's a well-established form of belief within the Brussels hemicycle. "We often hear it said that being a member of the nobility means gaining around 2,500 votes in the Brussels Region," sums up a liberal MP, overstating the case. However, an analysis of the results for personalities from the nobility does not bear out this numerical assertion.

The nobility at the heart of the business world:"It has entered the meritocracy game".

One fact, however, seems indisputable: nobles are proving to be major vote-getters for Brussels parties.

In 2019, among the five French-speaking parties with representatives in the Brussels Parliament and Chamber, La Libre counted 25 Brussels candidates from the nobility or with particle names. Six of them were elected to the Brussels Parliament, one to the Chamber. More surprisingly, 20 of them obtained a score equal to or better than their place on the list.

They were most numerous in the MR (7), ahead of the CDH (6), followed by Défi and Ecolo (5 each) and the PTB (2). The PS had none on its lists.

Candidates from the nobility or with particle names in the Brussels Region ©IPM Graphics

Some successes are quite spectacular. Anne-Charlotte d'Ursel (MR) was only 7th on the regional list in 2019, but achieved the 4th highest score. For Ecolo, Barbara de Radiguès achieved Ecolo's 6th score in the Region, starting from 10th place.

Jonathan de Patoul (Défi), first-time candidate for the Region in 2019, obtained the 9th score of the regional list from 24th place. Ariane de Lobkowicz, still on the Amarante list, was only 48th but was elected with... the 5th score. She has since moved to the MR.

Several new candidates from the (sometimes French) nobility have joined the lists for the June elections, including Marie Thibaut de Maisières and Vivien Henry de Frahan (Ecolo), and Ludivine de Magnanville (Défi).

"Because of their background, people from the nobility have excellent interpersonal skills and education. This gives them a cultural capital that helps them in politics, to have the codes of the milieu, but also for oral and written expression.There'salso the address book aspect," observes Caroline Sagesser, a political scientist at Crisp.

Brussels MP Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène (MR) looks back on his first campaign. "I was 23 and my parents didn't take kindly to my involvement. I was 36th out of 43 in Brussels-town, and they said I had no chance of getting through. My name, my network, certainly played a small role or made a small difference", he admits.

Neither the name nor the particle, taken in isolation, work miracles. As with every candidate, the electoral score depends on a combination of factors. What are they? Let's try to list them.

"There's a tradition, within the nobility, of developing one's network, and this can have an electoral impact," points out Christophe De Beukelaer, head of the Engagés list for the Brussels Region, who helped draw up the lists. "But be careful, it's clearly not the name or the particle that makes us recruit a candidate. We're universalists at Les Engagés and I always encourage my candidates to go out and speak in all walks of life."

At Défi, some candidates from the nobility decided to campaign together in 2019. Jonathan de Patoul, son of former deputy Serge de Patoul, wrote a joint letter, along with two other first-time candidates: Ariane de Lobkowicz, daughter of former Ucclois alderman and Brussels deputy Stéphane de Lobkowicz, and Nicolas Harmel, grandson of Count Pierre Harmel, Prime Minister between 1965 and 1966. In a letter sent to their network, these three candidates presented themselves as "young people from the same tradition".

"The nobility is a network like any other. Like every candidate, when you go into politics, you first target your own community," says Jonathan de Patoul (Défi), a member of the Brussels parliament. "Because a candidate has a certain name, some voters, who are not necessarily from the aristocracy, will assume that he or she will support certain values, such as the defense of Belgium, the monarchy, Christian values and so on."

"It'snormal to target a group you belong to and are close to when running an election campaign. That said, while we often talk about political ideas, there's one element that few candidates mention: the question of values. These values, real or supposed, are a driving force for some voters," adds Brussels MP Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène (MR). "If a voter gives me his vote, it's not because my grandfather was one of the founders of Belgium. I'm proud of that, but it doesn't make me any more credible or intelligent. On the other hand, because a candidate has a certain name, some voters, who are not necessarily from the aristocracy, will assume that he or she will support certain values, such as the defense of Belgium, the monarchy, Christian values and so on. I've been told, too: if I vote for you and Alexia Bertrand, I know you won't be goinginto the till."

The "carnet mondain", which is usually used to send greeting cards or invite people to a party, is also a valuable tool for politicians. This genealogical directory, available to members only, comprises 14,000 entries (editor's note: each entry includes a person or a family nucleus), totalling over 40,000 people, a significant proportion of whom live in the Brussels region. Several candidates from the nobility use it during their campaigns to send out their mailings, flyers and other election literature.

The "carnet mondain" provides us with the postal addresses of people we wish to contact. It's a way of targeting voters, since it's not possible to send mail to all of Brussels. During my first campaign, I sent out a fairly general letter in paper format, starting with my commune (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre), and the people I know", points out Jonathan de Patoul.

Alexia Bertrand (Open VLD/MR) is a benchmark in the field, the liberal having extended the practice well beyond her initial network. "At the start of my political career, I used to send invitations to trade fairs to my network of friends created throughout my life, whether through scouts, my children's school, neighbors..."points out Alexia Bertrand. "We propose a meeting, then these people invite friends to the next one, and that creates a virtuous circle. There's a leverage effect. Over time, this has enabled me to meet people in towns where I have fewer contacts. But it's only one campaign strategy among others, along with posters, letters to the network and markets. The advantage of trade shows is that you campaign as a team, which is very pleasant. "

The Federal Secretary of State for the Budget's trade fairs have become particularly popular. Invitations to these events enable the successful candidate to meet some of the capital's economic powerhouses more quickly, and to develop a network of key figures more rapidly.

In fact, it was at one of these meetings that she first introduced Youssef Handichi, a former PTB deputy who has now joined the MR, to a group of leading figures from the business world. During the previous campaign, she also co-opted candidates such as David Leisterh, now in the running for the Brussels Minister-Presidency, and invited Aurelie Czekalski, Audrey Henry, Jonathan Bierman, Loubna Azghoud, Viviane Teitelbaum, MR youth president Laura Hidalgo, and Open VLD candidates such as Frédéric De Gucht, etc...

Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène coupled voting for his candidacy with support for a good cause. He pledged to plant two trees for every vote received, one in Belgium and one in Africa, in 2019. "A total of 6,520 trees have been planted", assures the MP, who will repeat the operation after June 9.

Ariane de Lobkowicz (since moved to the MR) and Jonathan de Patoul, for their part, have cleverly arranged to get a place side by side, at the bottom of the first two columns on the 2019 regional list. The strategy, devised by former Ucclois councillor Stéphane de Lobkowicz, who is widely regarded as a shrewd electoral strategist, was to take advantage of an unfavourable position to ensure that they were visually easily identifiable to voters.

In short, the electoral score is the result of a combination of factors and behaviors. While the particle can be an advantage for MR or Défi, it can be counterproductive for PTB or PS. "One of my acquaintances joined the PS, but her network didn't follow her and it didn't work out", Geoffroy Coomans de Brachène points out.

"The nobility is a societal niche in Brussels, like others: the Freemasons, the self-employed, doctors, lawyers, etc.," sums up a Brussels elected representative. "For a party, it makes sense to include a member of the aristocracy on its lists, to capture part of this electorate. So it has an impact, even if it's limited. But when you climb higher in the seats, you necessarily have to broaden your electoral base and go beyond this niche."

Read the article on www.lalibre.be

By Adrien de Marneffe

Published June 5, 2024