Belgian Politics & Elections: Federal, regional & EP elections on June 9, 2024

[Zinneke]

Looking at those potential results...I know this comes up every local election but given the current European context and the N-VA's dead end with the other parties, its time to start questioning the cordon sanitaire's resilience again.

[Zinneke]

How about this new Muslim party? Are they going to run anywhere?

There are more parties, because there are lots of divisions in the immigrant vote. We have like two Turkish parties (because they couldn't agree to form a party together, similar to DENK in Netherlands, which have in common that they are left-wing but pro-Erdogan) and the more radical ISLAM party. I haven't heard about the latter one, but I heard the Turkish party had troubles with even getting enough good signatures and finding enough candidates to even get on the ballot in some major cities, like they had trouble in Antwerp and also in Beringen (a city with a huge population of Turkish immigrants), one of those parties failed to submit a list.

What i've heard so far, it seems like the elections will be very disappointing for the immigrant parties. What differs in Belgium from the Netherlands is that there is no united immigrant party and that we have a electoral threshold of 5% which is rather rough, and makes it hard for new parties to arise on the political field, so i can almost certainly say they'll not have a breakthrough in Flanders.

For the case of Brussels, where the party would inevitably be more successful due to the demographic makeup and the way the debate over Islam has been salient in the city since the Abdelsalam attacks and Brussels bombings, you can see by Umengus's poll that they are improving slightly enough to potentially get 2 seats at regional level. Their campaign has honestly been very low key, I have only just seen their posters this week, and clearly they know which districts to target. They may still be benefiting from the hype that Theo Francken and others in the N-VA created around their case, but how they carry inevitable momentum and how the media covers them will be vital.  

I think a more threatening case is when mainstream parties seem to present crypto-Erdoganists (ECOLO members making Grey Wolves salutes in Saint-Josse for example) or other members of certain immigrant communities who have no interest other than to import their struggle back home onto the Belgian political debate. Demir - who is Antwerp based - going to Genk being a fantastic example of how to stoke the flames of an already hot fire. Sure, she's managed to piss off Erdogan in the right way. But should Genk local elections really be a referendum on what you think of Turkish integration in Flemish society? Most of the Limburg-based Turks were Bulgarian and had little interest in diaspora politics until the political entrepreuners, both foreign and domestic, wheeled in with their identity complexes. Belgian identity complexes for Belgian people, god damn it!

[Zinneke]

Results will be released at 15.00h tomorrow. If David or a mod can edit the title to indicate this is happening that'd be cool.

[Zinneke]

Results will be released at 15.00h tomorrow. If David or a mod can edit the title to indicate this is happening that'd be cool.

Done.

Thanks a lot.

Another article you and french-speakers might find interesting from BePolitix with a nice run down of how the parties in WalloBrux are shaping up heading into tomorrow. Its very different case to Flanders though because only something like 40% of the communes in Wallonia have the same party configuration as the federal level, compared to 80% in Flanders.

https://absp.be/Blog/2018/10/08/les-elections-communales-en-wallonie-et-a-bruxelles-au-prisme-de-la-fragmentation/

Happy to translate for others if there is interest, but I imagine it should be fine with a translation app.

For me the key things to look out for in the context of next year's federals:

1/ How PS does in Liege and suburbs vs ECOLO and particularly PTB.
2/ How Défi splits the MR vote in major Walloon cities
3/ Whether Lutgen can survive his mayorship and a potential slide in the provincial elections (Luxemburg provincial results and his own personal battle with his brother)
4/ the final breakthrough of the far right, although given something like 6 far right parties are running in Charleroi alone, it seems unlikely they will ever unite. PP have aggressively campaign and even allied with Steve Bannon of all people to try to get funds and legitimacy.

I guess the most publicised/battles are still Mons/Bergen, Bastogne for the Lutgen face off, and Namur which is always a close battle between the traditional parties and now has the added surge of Défi. Schaerbeek should provide drama as it always does every 6 years in Brussels.

Otherwise it has been a relatively low key election compared to the last.

[Zinneke]

Official results here


https://elections2018.wallonie.be/
https://www.vlaanderenkiest.be/verkiezingen2018/index.html#/

Also, typical Brussels surrealism, electronic voting booths are still dysfunctional :

http://www.lalibre.be/dernieres-depeches/belga/trente-bureaux-de-vote-toujours-touches-par-un-probleme-technique-a-bruxelles-5bc30104cd708c805c33ce9b#.W8ME1KY1t4U

[Zinneke]

N-VA set to overtake sp.a as the largest party in Hasselt, but fail to replicate this in Leuven.

Also looking increasingly likely VB will get their first mayor in Ninove.

CD&V stay largest in Bruges, Beveren and are generally holding up quite well. Could be a good night for them.

Provincially though (which btw is another useless layer of democracy other than a midterm bellweather)  N-VA are still dominating, so it appears to just be a case of running out of ideas and implantation locally. They gambled hard over the summer on immigration and were outflanked by VB on the issue, who are better implanted locally. As long as they hold Antwerp-city though they will not be too worried.

Too early for francophone Belgium to tell any major results. Rumours have it Mons en mieux led by MR's slightly "hard right" figure George-Louis Bouchez could be overtaken by ECOLO which would be an embarrassing end to an embarrassing political figure.

Genk (50%)

CDV (pro-erdogan): 36 (-4)
NVA (kurd): 30

What?

Umengus is of course exaggerating, but Zuhal Demir, the N-VA's minister on equal opportunities and list leader in Genk, is Kurdish origin and likes to childishly dog whistle on certain parts of the Turkish community on their level of integration, etc while using her own background every single debate. So Erdogan-s AKP actually instructed Turks in Genk to vote against her by voting for CD&V (it's not the first time they have done this, the media also called her a PKK terrorist). The mayor obviously wasn't going to refuse ethnic votes but that doesn't make him an Erdogan sycophant either.  

THe reason Demir will have failed in Genk will have almost certainly have to do with her being parachuted in from Antwerp and saying "yo, I'm a Genkie again" when everybody knows she has federal ambitions.

[Zinneke]

Looks like PS will not be harmed too much in Liege-City. Very poor result for PTB not even getting to 10%.

Mons and Charleroi will also stay in PS hands...

[Zinneke]

Thanks for your explanation on Genk.

What's going on in Voeren? How can Défi run for provincial council there (I assume it's part of Limburg?)

Its a Linguistic Facilities Zone because of the linguistic heterogenity there. Défi are running as part of the "RAL" list that used to stand for "Retour A Liege(-Province)" and was led by José Happart, a PS guy known as a "Wallingant" in Flanders and is a fierce Liegeois provincialist. Défi clearly own the francophone rights issue though so it makes sense that they were drafted in this list at a local level, rather than running against both RAL and the Dutch-speaking list.  

Défi are also running a list on their own at provincial level in Limburg. Its part of their tradition of defending French-speakers in Flanders.

[Zinneke]

Ah, I knew about Voeren but I didn't know that Défi tends to run at the provincial level in Limburg; logical choice though. You vote Défi too, right?

I voted for them today locally for entirely local reasons, I would consider them for regional and maybe federal especially if Clerfayt takes over from Maingain, but I do not like their intransigent stance on federal debate. They have come a long way from being the anti-Flemish party (Clerfayt and Gosuin voluntarily include Flemish lists in their majorities) but I still feel voting for them federally is conveying a bad message. They are still infinitely better than the traditional parties though.

[Zinneke]

Woah, RTBF saying in Liege-Province and Namur-Province PS are failing hard...-20%. ECOLO would be the largest party in Liege-Province.

EDIT : ECOLO ahead in Ixelles/Elsene

[Zinneke]

One thing that i've noticed... pollings aren't very reliable here as well. One polling said N-VA would be the big winner in the Brussels election, and they've lost compared to 2012.

N-VA-s popularity was due to francophones indicating they would vote for them at regional level. Remember right-wing francophones have their own right-wing choices to make at local but benefit if they vote N-VA at regional because of the surreal college system meaning they can genuinely influence the government.

Also the Schild and Vrienden scandal and the racist remarks of one of their Bxl candidates will not have helped in Brussels. For example, some Dutch diaspora with similar views to David or mvd would have been bread and butter for the N-VA until that sort of confirmed the underlying problem with their movement.   

EDIT : Clerfayt wins in Schaerbeek with his green partners progressing. Good results for PTB.

ECOLO neck and neck with PS at Bruxelles ville. Close (PS Mayor) is toast.

[Zinneke]

ECOLO are having an amazing night. Terrible for MR in Brussels who could only end up with 1 mayor in Brussels. Losing Ixelles, Molenbeek, UCCLE!!!! and also losing badly in extensions of their Brussels electorate in Brabant Wallon. 

[Zinneke]

Looks like PS will not be harmed too much in Liege-City. Very poor result for PTB not even getting to 10%.

Mons and Charleroi will also stay in PS hands...

PTB might actually be second in Charleroi according to RTBF.

Yeah, so that would reverse the trend and implant them in Hainaut. Problem for them is Magnette and Merckx hate each other so they might be irrelevant.

Also PP have underwhelmed again, especially when you look at VB's good results up north. Splintered far right in Wallonia and Modrikamen's inability to talk working class language is hurting them.

ECOLO are having an amazing night. Terrible for MR in Brussels who could only end up with 1 mayor in Brussels. Losing Ixelles, Molenbeek, UCCLE!!!! and also losing badly in extensions of their Brussels electorate in Brabant Wallon.  

Vincent De Wolf is looking set to comfortably hang on in Etterbeek, alas.

Yeah, Ixelles in MR hands always felt like an anomaly at times. Its clearly got districts that are upper class but it also has Matongé, Flagey, etc. Etterbeek on the other hand is still very professional middle class.

MR losing Uccle is also due to Dedecker's Kazakhgate corruption scandal and a dissident liberal list.


EDIT : Ugh Onkelinkx is on TV. But she is reminding  something very important regarding DavidB's question here :

How does the mayor thing work? The biggest party gets the mayor, or do they have to form coalitions? In the latter case, how does someone like Dedecker or, even more extreme, the VB person in Ninove become mayor?

In Flanders you can still turn over the leading party through a coalition. In Wallonia the most voted candidate is mayor "by law" but I think it just gives them initiative to form a coalition. Bart Maddens also wrote an article saying why Wallonia was starting to reverse the partiocracy at local level, while Flanders was going the opposite direction :

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/09/08/opinie-bart-maddens-ik-wou-dat-ik-een-waal-was/

[Zinneke]

Di Rupo has been beaten by his second on the list. Major scalp of the night, but planned by the PS and himself to ease him out. Will probably resign now.

[Zinneke]

Great suspense in Antwerp where the provisional results mean if the ruling coalition lose one seat in the next 3 districts they lose their majority. You can play around with the coaltion maker and results. Luckily for N-VA, VB are basically blocking any left coalition and making De Wever "incontournable". I predict this will be the same for the federals next year. Antwerp a predictor once again.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/#/11/1/11002/coalitie

[Zinneke]

Here the VRT did a seat projection of the Flemish parliament if the Provincial elections were Regional



I think N-VA will do better as VB take a lot of anti-establishment votes in these kind of "midterm" elections.

And VB leader Van Grieken saying he wants to work with N-VA in the communes they have a majority in

https://twitter.com/tomvangrieken/status/1051531312564228096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[Zinneke]

So Bartje keeps his majority in Antwerp, although Kris Peeters, who got absolutely humiliated, has already hinted he could drop the coalition. It should be straightforward for the N-VA in Antwerp though, especially compared to what the polls were indicating.

Clerfayt on RTBF saying he wasn't satisfied with Défi's results and that there would be a debriefing at the party office...all that with a wry smile that indicates he's going to go forward with another leadership challenge.

Hedebouw almost getting his dick out announcing the results of PTB/PVDA in Flemish villages to a darkened room. I thought he was going to break out into a cabaret act.

Overall I'm glad I watched the RTBF's coverage over VRT, its always hilariously amateurish but it  has an entente with the vieuwer to not take itself too seriously, just like this beautiful country.

The major "surprises" of this evening I guess :

ECOLO winning Ixelles with 33%, and winning PS bastion Forest, to confirm their implantation in Brussels.
MR potentially losing Uccle.
PTB doing better than expected in Hainaut and worse than expected in Liege and surrounding regions, although Liege looks like it will be last to declare.
JM Dedecker actually winning an election
VB overperforming all round thanks to a late surge.

[Zinneke]

Really what's the point of the N-VA existing if the VB doesn't stay dead?

I think the first thing we need to remember is that the 43% N-VA vote - and thus VB's collapse - in Flanders in 2014 might not be replicated for a while. It was a historic result largely because some ardent VB nationalists may have seen it as putting a final nail in the Belgian coffin, and bring the debate back on their patch. And VB's 10% gained immediately back is from the N-VA, which given VB had strong results before, suggests the switch of these voters in 2014 was never meant as permanent.

Then there's that whole thing about the N-VA being a party of government. They've been in power for a while now at the Flemish level. They still act in the media as an opposition party and they're still blaming the sossen for pretty much everything but inevitably people protest vote in a different manner once they see the same faces in government.

EDIT : Looks like MR will at least get to keep Uccle. Boris Dillies has found an agreement with cdH and ECOLO.

Clear, thanks for your answer!

Apparently De Wever has referred to certain party members at his party event as his 'shield and his friends', mocking the Schlild & Vrienden scandal. LOL.

His not mocking the scandal, he's mocking them. He hates the neo-nazis in his party.

[Zinneke]

So Di Rupo, Rudy Demotte (ex president of the federation WalloBrux) and André Flahaut (ex-Minister of Defence, budget minister) all "lost" their mayoralities to young PS usurpers, although in the former two cases it appears to have been deliberately engineered by the PS to get Di Rupo and Demotte to run in a year's time at Regional/Federal/EU level. But its a general part of the strategy of renewal, and it appears a lot of PS dissidents did well on the lower parts of their lists.


cdH also held on to Namur-citywhile PS, their main challengers, got spanked there, losing 9 seats. Same coalition as before (cdH-ECOLO-MR) to govern a city with strange electoral trends (the only major city cdH has the mayorality outside Luxemburg; Défi and PTB at 8%).

The way the system works in Wallonia is that the person who gets the highest preference votes of the parties in the coalition is mayor by law.

This is what the electoral map looks like for the provincials by electoral district :

[Zinneke]

Patrick Dupriez has resigned as ECOLO co-president despite their good results. Looks like the way is opening for new Ixelles mayor Doulkeridis. Although him not being from Wallonia might be a setback, and ECOLO will want to push forward a charismatic figure there to rival Hedebouw and Magnette in debates for the next election.

[Zinneke]

I'd thought I'd do a little tour of Brussels and the results here. Sources are mostly the excellent coverage at Bruzz and some academic docs from CAIRN. The general trend of the region was a significant swing to the left parties, mostly because of MR's inability to disassociate themselves with the Federal coalition and the N-VA at the doorstep, leading to their rout (only Uccle and Etterbeek have MR mayors, and Uccle they need support from the Greens). And MR also are associated with the pro-car policy. ECOLO were the big "winners", followed by PTB. Défi stopped dead in its tracks. N-VA underperformed compared to their polls, being only really present in more Flemish districts. In general, it was a bad night for the Flemish parties (outside of Groen)

Brussels-City



In Brussels-City, the incumbent PS figure Philippe Close is set to remain mayor, seemingly surviving the SamuSocial scandal by conducting a low profile (especially compared to his predecessor Yvan Mayeur) campaign. He will form a majority with big winners ECOLO, change.brussels (an sp.a "open" list that was dissident against the PS led by an ex-councillor who resigned in protest at SamuSocial) The real loser was MR and Alain Courtois, whose management of the national stadium supposed to be built at the Parking C of Heizel led to national embarrassement. PS and Ecolo have since invited Défi into their protracted majority in what could be a test drive of the next Brussels regional government.    

Schaerbeek



In Schaerbeek, Defi Mayor Bernard Clerfayt and his "Mayor's List" had already announced he would renew a coalition with ECOLO-groen (they had a pre-electoral accord) and ditch cdH from his majority. ECOLO-groen followed up the promise by winning an extra 10% off their main rivals in Schaebeek, the PS. The latter had totally lost its way following the resignation of Brussels (and Lasne) strongwoman Laurette Onkelinkx and led a miserable campaign. Brussels' second largest (and often forgotten) commune was first under the leadership of far right FDF then FN populist Roger Nols until he resigned (after he reportedly didn't want his wife to succeed him having found her engaged in a threesome with two police officers, while in presence of the chief commissioner and two aldermen). Thanks to demographics (Schaerbeek has a sizeable Balkan and Turk diaspora) the PS conquered Schaerbeek back, but when they lost their majority in 2006 ECOLO and cdH ditched them for Clerfayt, who rebuilt the image of the FDF in the commune as a party capable of intercultural dialogue coupled with serious policies. But its mainly Clerfayt's personal popularity with the middle class suburbs heading towards Evere that also plays a major role here.

Anderlecht



In Anderlecht, there was a strange pre-electoral "agreement" that wasn't between the PS and the MR going into the election, with the real fight being who becomes mayor, PS's Eric Thomas or MR's Gaeten van Goidsenhoven. The latter won the more preference votes, but the former will remain mayor after Ecolo-Groen agreed with the PS-spa to oust MR from the majority. Along with cdh (who are part of the PS list here) and Défi (who ran a half-serious campaign with the landlady of Anderlecht’s supporters club), Thomas has enough political capital to do withoiut the liberals. N-VA lost their second seat here, a major blow when you consider the reputation of some far right parts of Anderlecht and their football team.

Molenbeek



The results in Molenbeek saw the return of the Moureaux family and the PS as potential leaders of the commune, at the expense of the MR and Francoise Schepmans. Schepmans had won a shock result in 2012 due to the sheer negligence exposed of Phillippe Moureaux in his clientelism with certain islamist “ASBL” (NGOs) and severely indebting the commune. Moureaux used to be anti-immigration in the 1980s, intially seizing power through a strong connection with working class white factory workers from the Osseghem districts, with Molenbeek being dubbed “little Manchester”. As demographics evolved and terrassed housing shot up in value, causing white flight with it, Moureaux centred on providing social housing the ASBL and setting up clientlist networks accross the inner city part of the commune with newcomers, becoming a figure of the hard left of the PS at the regional level. Schepmans overturned his grip in large part thanks to the Western part of Molenbeek (which is high income) and ECOLO breaking down. Now Moureaux’s daughter, Catherine, has reconquered what should be bread and butter for the PS. Indeed, pictures of her being hoisted up by the local Morroccan community with a rose leaders led to N-VA’s Theo Francken wondering “where the women were”.

Ixelles

Ixelles had the biggest “shock” of the night with Dominique Dufourny losing her Mayor’s Scarf to ECOLO’s Doulderikis. I say shock, Ixelles is 50-50 Belgian/Immigrant commune with a bizarre mix of the Congolese district Matongé (although Dufourny is quite popular with the small business owning diaspora there), the European yuppies and low level fonctionnaires, hipster central Flagey, parts near Avenue Louise (which is a chique district, but the street Avenue Louise itself is in Brussels-city, standard Brussels surrealism) and a residential enclave west with Molière street full of hot shot lawyers and embassies. The emphasis on small enterprise as the lifeblood of the Ixelles economy meant that MR were actually slightly favoured here, but Dufourny’s management of the car circulation plans (especially around Porte de namur) and her strict rules of noise pollution at night in Flagey (to name but two issues)  made her unpopular with an increasingly young demographic and ECOLO controlled these agendas perfectly.

  

[Zinneke]

This is Brussels. Flemish parties barely hit 5%. In local elections they do even worse because they don't have the college vote effect that makes a vote for them worth more than for a francophone party at regional level.  

[Zinneke]

Uccle



Uccle saw the MR majority it had held for years flounder for the first time. Boris Dilles will keep the mayor’s scarf but only thanks to cdH and ECOLO help. Uccle is most famous in Brussels for being a French expat haven, that is almost a village inside the city due to its total isolation from most means of public transport. Its reputation as a superrich district is only partly true though : district nearer to Ixelles and especially Forest are home to terraced housing and even council housing in the latter case. MR lost due to the previous mayor’s Armand Dedecker Kazakhgate scandal  also due to a dissident liberal list called Uccle en Avant, and has generally suffered from factionalism in the past. PS also lost big time.

Forest



In Forest, ECOLO also stunned the local PS in a commune known as being an extension of Saint-Gilles and their mayor Charles Picqué’s sphere of influence. He owned the local football team (Union Saint-Gilles...yeah) and the place is home to sizeable Hispanic diasporas with cultural left-wing ties, and an increasing young Eurocrat type demographic. It still also has Forest-Est as one of the most “troubled” Brussels districts, which is bread and butter for PS and PTB. Note the presence of the Audi factory, which is actually a point of contention by many in the commune itself as something like 95% of the employees there live outside of the commune

Woluwe-St-Lambert



Woluwe-Saint-Lambert was a procession for Défi’s lider maximo Olivier Maingain. He’s been running this commune for years effectively, draws a lot of his support here by lobbying for their interests at all levels of power and he will renew his "charity" coalition with a weakened cdH-CD&V list.


Saint-Gilles



Saint-Gilles was slighlty less of a procession for former PS heavyweight and Minister-President Charles Picqué. being the alternative left-liberal district par exellence, ECOLO and especially PTB made gains against Picqué’s PS-MR mayor’s list. He can choose now between renewing the PS-MR coalition or opting for ECOLO-groen, and looks set to do the latter. Given MR are the biggest losers it makes sense.

Jette



Jette is a small commune in the upper north of Brussels where nothing much happens. Their relationship with the Ring and its congestion, economy, etc. tends to dominate the debate there, but Hervé Doyen has built a successful career representing their interests at a Brussels regional level and as a result is reconducted with a 9% increase in his vote. PS are the big losers with -8%.

Etterbeek



Etterbeek saw Vincent de Wolf, long time “strong”man of Brussels MR and ally (stooge) of Charles Michel, maintain his mayorality due to the sizeable high income professionals (including European district) that tend to back MR, as well as a certain savinness De Wolf has in matters of ecology and urban planning. Ecolo made progress highly linked to Co-President Khattabi’s personal popularity in the Germoir/Trone and student districts of Etterbeek. But this result strengthens De Wolf against his internal rival Didier Reynders who neglected the Brussels-wide campaign.

[Zinneke]

Woluwe-Saint-Pierre



Woluwe-St-Pierre is the domain of Brussels baron Benoit Cerexhe, who just so happens to be cdH. This is the only reason they do remotely well here. He lost his majority last election but managed to hang on thanks ECOLO and Défi support. This time though he held off the MR assault thanks to their shocking performance. Woluwe-St-Pierre is in between European inner city and American style suburb, sort of what Londoners call a village. Professional class workers and some embassies scattered  around here.

Evere



Evere is another strange commune that doesn’t quite pass off as a suburb in its centre, but still resembles a London-style village in some parts, but much poorer than the neighbouring Woluwes. Its also home to a host of Multinational headquarters in its industrial park, and PS Minister-President Rudi Vervoort. No chance then this time round of his electorate abandoning his potential influence as the Minister-President of the Region, but Evere could become the “new Schaerbeek” as Brussels expands, causing potential problems for his hold here.

Auderghem



Auderghem is the entry point into Southern Brussels via the E411, and its massive viaduc Hermann-Debroux is an eyesore that the people want rid of in what would otherwise be considered a nice commune. Here Didier Gosuin of Défi is the King, having conquered an absolute majority on several occasions (seeing off multiple high profile challengers over the years). Cracks are starting to show in the Gosuin empire though : his list lost 11% and this was one of the few communes MR progressed in. Nevertheless, like his counterparts Clerfayt and Maingain, he’s still the undisputed Baron of the commune due to their ability to work the regional structures for their communes, balance budgets, reduce communal taxes and “get” urban issues (unlike MR) He will reconduct an alliance with ECOLO-groen despite not even needing them. Worth also noting that the N-VA’s decision to run here cost the only Flemish alderman - who worked closely with Gosuin of all people - to lose their seat,. As the most Francophone commune of the Brussels, this is a self-inflicted blow for the Flemish movement.

Saint-Josse



Saint-Josse is, unlike Auderghem, as inner city as it gets, with the smallest area of the communes, and lodged outside the old city walls. Its known as a Turkish/Balkan district, its  and its cramped housing and prostitution industry. The Turkish community has ensured that Emir Kir has stayed in power, a man known by some fellow PS officials as “the extreme-right socialist”. His refusal to honour the Armenian Genocide commemoration in the Federal parliament earned him a Turkish nationalist reputation. With allegations of Grey Wolves in both his and ECOLO’s (lower) ranks, this commune’s election quickly turned into a referendum on Emir Kir’s inferiority identity complex. ECOLO-groen’s support comes from Flemish yuppies (very near Flemish parliament, and Groen do well here in Federals), European young workers and actually every right to left-wing person who wants Kir gone.

Watermael-Boitsfort




Watermael-Boitsfort was the subject of much drama last election. The Payfa family had dominated here for years, and the latest incarnation, Martine, thought she was a dead cert for mayor after then ECOLO president Olivier Deleuze failed to beat her preference vote. But he managed to end her 18 year reign via a sensational electoral night alliance with cdH and MR. This year was a much more laid back affair, with Deleuze confident of re-election and touting an alliance with his old Defi foe anyway. It turned into a sour night for the retiring Payfa, who saw Deleuze climb 11% in one of Brussels richest communes (bar a couple of council estates).

Berchem-Sainte-Agathe




Berchem-Sainte--Agathe in another North-western suburb where the Christian pillar traditionally does well due to their traditional implantation there. Joel Riguelles should hold on to his mayorality despite significant loss switching from VLD+MR to PS-sp.a and Ecolo-Groen. THis may also be the only commune where both PS and MR actually beat their previous scores.

Ganshoren



Ganshoren, saw a bizzarre election where the two main contenders had already a pre-elecotral accord, and it was just a case of seeing who got the Mayor’s scarf. It turned out to be Pierre Kompany, the father of footballer Vincent Kompany, becoming the first Black African mayor of Belgium. He led a cdH-CD&V list that usually ensures decent results at all levels (high density of catholic educated in this corner of Brussels).

Koekelberg



Koekelberg is Brussels smallest district, essentially comprising of the namesake Catherdral (now turned into a cabaret and potentially a gym) and its surroundings but it was witnessed a minor revolution in a loss for long time MR mayor Phillippe Pivin, paving the way for Ahmed Laaouej to take the mayorship and consolidate his position as designated head of the Brussels PS after Onkelinkx’s departure.

[Zinneke]

It seems the PS are really trying to use the post-local election negotiations in major communes to attack PTB...First in Charleroi where Magnette opened discussions but is now reluctant saying PTB need to remember who the largest party is. And now surprisingly in Molenbeek, where Catherine Moureaux, whose father was renowned as being on the left of the left of the PS, has decided to end negotiations with them and opt for a coalition with old rival Francoise Schepmans, opting for a stable coalition rather than a protracted 4 party one. Its unclear what capacity Schepmans will take, but it will be an unpopular move in both party headquarters.

The more broad implication is that the PS and PTB are not as compatible as previously thought. And PS are trying to emphasise that PTB are incapable of government, while PTB claim PS is a party machinery with pre-electoral schemes.