Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (often abbreviated as "BHV") is a contentious Belgian electoral district in the center of the country that encompasses both the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital region as well as the officially unilingual Dutch-speaking Halle-Vilvoorde area around it.

Around 2000, a consensus was gradually formed among Flemish parties to request the splitting of the electoral district. The situation was also condemned in 2002 as unconstitutional by the Arbitration Court (Dutch: Arbitragehof, French: Cour d'Arbitrage). It judged that, among others, this was in contradiction with the explicitly provincial definition of the electoral districts for national and European elections. However, it did not explictly ask the splitting of the electoral district.

The reasons for this Flemish dissatisfaction are the following: In European and national elections; voters in this district can choose candidates from both communities, French-speakers and Flemings, although the Halle-Vilvoorde area belongs to the constitutionally-established Dutch-language area and to the area of the Flemish region. Because of the amalgamated Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district, that possibility is extended to the French-speakers living in the unilingual Halle-Vilvoorde district. That allows French-speaking candidates from Brussels and even from Wallonia (thus from outside the Flemish region area and from outside the constitutional Dutch-only area) to attract votes from outside their electoral district. The current Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral district was therefore ruled to breach both the constitutionally established provincial borders as well as by the borders between the linguistic areas, and between the communities.

Therefore, according to many Flemish politicians, this constitutes an extra-territorial privilege for French-speaking candidates for national parliament and for European elections. Analogously, there exists an extra-territorial privilege for French-speakers established in the Flemish municipalities of the province of Flemish Brabant.

See also

• Regions, communities and provinces of Belgium
• Politics of Belgium
• Municipalities with linguistic facilities