The man with 22,000 votes will, however, be third on the list, given his electoral weight, “and because after 12 years I believe I have done a good job, and there will need to be continuity and new touches. But I could not decently present myself as head of the list by saying that I would no longer be mayor no matter what happens. The people of Charleroi who vote socialist must know who their mayor would potentially be: Thomas Dermine is the perfect candidate.” If the voters give him the mandate, young Dermine will be the mayor of the largest city in Wallonia. But be careful: the mayor will in any case be the candidate who gets the most votes on the majority list of the future coalition, so nothing is decided.But the team is ready”notes Magnette, who will campaign alongside Thomas Dermine of course, but also Julie Patte (2nd), Philippe Van Cauwenberghe (5th) and many others: “We have been preparing for these elections for a long time. We have launched dozens of general meetings to extract proposals for our program. And more than half of the candidates are new, with a few open-minded people – shopkeepers, independents, teachers – who, although they share our values, do not have a party card.”
He admits: “it’s a hell of a long time, twelve years. There is a certain emotion. But in politics, I think it is important to succeed in your successions. Not preparing the next generation, doing one term too many, clinging to one term: I had always promised myself not to do that. And here, we will have a solid team to carry out the Charleroi projects.”he said, specifying that he would happily be a “simple” municipal councilor (“without being a stepmother”), to keep a foot in his city. “When I arrived in 2012, we were in deep decline. People no longer believed in it, they were demoralized, everyone wanted to leave. It was terrifying. That was my first fight, to stop people from giving up. And I think we can now see that people believe in it, that families are settling in Charleroi, because there are shops, because there are schools, because there is a newfound pride. Not everything is perfect and there is work to be done: mobility, security, commercial revitalization… But hope has returned. I have a clear conscience.”
Thomas Dermine, future mayor of Charleroi? “If Paul Magnette was the great architect, I will be the mayor of everyday life”
