Belgian far-right party puts convicted Holocaust denier up for local elections

The far-right Vlaams Belang party put forward a 90-year-old Holocaust denier as one of its candidates at Belgium’s upcoming municipal elections.

Roeland Raes was convicted of Holocaust denial in 2008 after questioning the scale of the Holocaust and the authenticity of Anne Frank’s diary. He was handed a suspended sentence of four months in prison, which was revoked on appeal, though his guilty verdict remained.

Raes co-founded the Vlaams Blok party, a predecessor to Vlaams Belang. He is 27^th on the party’s list for the municipality of Aalter out of 29 candidates.

Denying the Holocaust, in which six million Jews as well as other minorities including Roma, gay people and people with disabilities were systematically killed, is a crime in numerous European countries.

Paul Beheyt, the lead candidate in Aalter for Vlaams Belang, told Belgian media that Raes requested a spot on the list and “was given a symbolic place, out of respect, because he remains one of the founders of Vlaams Blok.”

“By putting convicted Holocaust denier Roeland #Raes on a list, @vlbelang once again showed its true face,” Belgian N-VA MP Michael Freilich, who is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, said on X.

Vlaams Belang received the second-largest share of votes at the national election in June, bucking expectations of a far-right landslide.

Belgians head to the polls for provincial, municipal and district elections on October 13.

Vlaams Belang did not immediately respond to a request for comment.