Brussels Member of Parliament Fouad Ahidar leaves Vooruit and lashes out: “Received many messages from people who also want to leave the party” | Domestic

There had been a problem between 50-year-old Ahidar and the party leadership for some time. For example, last year Ahidar was expelled from the party office by then chairman Conner Rousseau because Ahidar had voted against the ban on slaughter without stunning in Brussels. And recently the party distanced itself from some controversial statements by Ahidar about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ahidar now respects himself and leaves the party. In a fiery statement, Ahidar lashed out at the party leadership and the direction of the party. “The direction of the party no longer corresponds to my fundamental values ​​of solidarity, justice, equality and freedom. Precisely because those values ​​are the essence of political commitment, I want to continue to defend them by taking a different path.”

He refers, among other things, to the policy of “locking up children” and the hardening of views on migration. “I am deeply appalled by the many blunders, the condemnations of racism and sexism, and by the deplorable way in which the party is run. The party is more concerned with its image than its values,” Ahidar writes. The racism incident surrounding former party chairman Conner Rousseau should have caused a “major ethical uproar”, but according to Ahidar that happened too little.

According to Ahidar, the fact that Rousseau was still almost unanimously supported within the party office is a sign that “credibility was compromised”. “Fortunately, the dismissal came, but it came too late and left its mark. It is an indelible stain on our political integrity and proof of the moral decay at the top,” Ahidar said.

Ahidar – who has been politically active for about 25 years, first at ID21, VlaamsProgressieves and SLP and later at sp.a/Vooruit – accuses Vooruit of an “unacceptable” concentration of power at the top. According to Ahidar himself, it is also the end of a process that was initiated when he was excluded from the party office last year. “The events led me to reconsider my place within the party and to take a clear position on the next elections,” he wrote. “I am withdrawing from the party. Not out of spite, but out of disappointment.”

Ahidar informed BRUZZ that he will continue to sit in the Brussels parliament. “I continue to work, also in collaboration with the members of One.Brussels-Vooruit in the Brussels parliament. I don’t even know if that is necessary as an independent, because Vooruit never existed in the Brussels parliament, it is One.Brussels. But we’ll see. This is a break with Vooruit national,” said Ahidar.

Ans Persoons, chairman of the Socialist Party in Brussels, suggests in a message on X that Ahidar left the party because he was unhappy with the list pusher position. “For us, content is more important than posts. We have a close-knit, strong team in Brussels with clear ideals. You’ve been part of it for years. No additional pedaling was necessary,” the message says.

In ‘The Morning’ on Radio 1, Ahidar dismisses the fact that he would not have been satisfied with his position on the list. “Ans Persoons shouldn’t teach me. I have always been elected from anywhere. She must be afraid whether she will still score well with their program.” In his own words, he “never needed the party. “In any case, people are voting for me. They never really voted for Vooruit.”