The regional divide in Belgium, between French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders, is manifested in economic, cultural and political terms and often translates in feelings of prejudice. Another important source of prejudice in Belgium is negative feelings towards immigrants. In Flanders, negative feelings toward Walloons and immigrants can be ventilated politically, by voting on the radical rightist anti-immigrant party Vlaams Belang or by voting for the regionalist N-VA. In Wallonia, on the contrary, there are no clear political options for similar prejudiced voters, as no large parties clearly focus on these political cleavages. These differences make Belgium a promising case, as ‘the options a specific society offers’ are essential in triggering certain types of prejudice (Zick et al. 2008). Using the 2014 Belgian Election Study, We investigate how feelings of prejudice toward the other language group and immigrants are related to each other and ventilated in both party systems.
