Jean-Marie Dedecker (71) is not yet ready for his retirement. If all goes well, his party Lijst Dedecker (LDD) will be relaunched throughout the country after the summer, writes ‘De Morgen’. LDD could well become the rival for N-VA and an Open Vld in crisis.
The mayor of Middelkerke has been in talks for several months to participate in the Flemish and federal elections in 2024 with Lijst Dedecker (LDD). It will then be 17 years since the party was founded, and 10 years after LDD completely disappeared from parliament. Officially no one wants to comment, but the plans are confirmed in Dedecker’s area. After the summer, LDD would normally be officially relaunched. However, Dedecker himself keeps the boat off. “I’m not going to say anything about that,” he responds briefly to ‘De Morgen’.
According to the newspaper, a handful of mayors have already pledged their support to sail under the Dedecker flag in 2024. Although it remains to be seen whether they will really take the plunge once the time has come.
Dedecker was elected to the Chamber in 2019. Officially he is independent, but Dedecker did get his seat from an N-VA list. Within Bart De Wever’s party, there is little to say about a possible resurgence of LDD. “We’ll see,” he said laconically. Although not everyone within N-VA seems confident: LDD can become a new rival on the right and, moreover, without Dedecker a cannon of votes will disappear. And Open Vld will also keep an eye on the possible arrival of LDD with suspicion, especially now that the party is doing worse than ever in the polls.
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