“What a farce”: political journalist Hannelore Simoens watches chairmanship elections at Open Vld | Domestic

On September 23, Open Vld will elect a new party chairman. Tom Ongena – who was appointed as interim chairman by Prime Minister De Croo this summer – will have two challengers: Vincent Stuer and Bert Schelfhout. But for the first time, members must elect the new chairman at a conference and not through the usual direct election where members can vote digitally. And this state of affairs is causing dissatisfaction among the base.

“Those two completely unknown candidates strongly oppose the way in which these presidential elections are organized. And rightly so,” says Wetstraat journalist Hannelore Simoens. “What kind of farce is this,” he says sharply. “At first there were no opposing candidates and De Croo had single-handedly appointed Ongena, now there are opposing candidates, but they have been given much less time to campaign.”

Many local Open Vld members especially criticize the fact that no online voting can take place, a frustration that Simoens can understand. “Although everything can now be organized digitally, this has suddenly become a problem for Open Vld. In their own words, it would take too much time and be too chaotic.”

Next Saturday the members must travel to Brussels to cast their votes. According to our political journalist, this is a disadvantage for the two opposing candidates. During the physical vote, only 1,200 members can vote instead of 16,000 members. “I can imagine that many friends and confidantes of De Croo and Ongena will be present and there will be no room for members who are dissatisfied with the party leadership. Those two other candidates have less chance anyway.”

“Open Vld was once the first party that was proud of its membership democracy, but I wonder what remains of it now,” said Simoens. “The way things are organized now, it is inevitable that Ongena will be elected. If digital voting is still possible, things might turn out differently, but I think that chance is small.”

De Wetstraat is not only in turmoil about Open Vld’s internal kitchen, but also about the upcoming budget negotiations within the Flemish government. The government will be considering that budget from today. CD&V wants to play hardball and demands extra money for childcare. The strong statement by CD&V chairman Sammy Mahdi – “If there are no investments in childcare, there will be no September Statement” – once again put pressure on the government.

“They are playing hard again,” says VTM NIEUWS journalist Hannelore Simoens. “CD&V wants to show that they are fighting for those children and families.” According to Simoens, they want to draw a red line, but that is actually no longer necessary. “All parties want additional investments in childcare. Everyone agrees on that. The discussion will rather be about which shelter and where the money should come from.”

The search for resources could therefore become the biggest sticking point. “In any case, N-VA has already made it clear that the extra money should come from their own CD&V departments (just think of welfare, public health or family, ed.).” However, Simoens appeals to “finally stop that party political game”.

According to her, the negotiations will again be “tough” and it will be “a race against time”, but there can be no question of a postponement of the September statement. I don’t think it will come to that. All parties agree that something has to be done and that was definitely different last year. CD&V may be playing hard, but it is open to a compromise.