If Francis Delpérée was right, Les Engagés can approach the local and provincial elections of October 13 with serenity. The centrists, heirs of a dying CDH, managed to turn the tide during the federal and regional elections in June by winning 20% of the votes in Wallonia and 10% in the Brussels Region.
Good news that comes at just the right time
Having just come to power in the south of the country, and expected to do the same in the Brussels Region, they were able to opportunely announce some good news as the local elections approach.
In Wallonia, there was the announcement of the reduction of registration and inheritance taxes. In Brussels, they took parliamentary initiatives with their future majority partners MR and PS to, on the one hand, postpone by two years the entry into force of the new phase of the low emission zone (LEZ), which plans to ban Euro 5 diesel and Euro 2 petrol cars from driving on the regional territory from 2025. And, on the other hand, maintain the energy renovation bonuses (Renolution bonuses) until the end of the year.
Registration and inheritance rights in Wallonia: good news that also hides some bad surprises
How will these measures be financed? Answer after the elections. The agenda is decidedly favourable to the Engagés – and to the MR.
The announcement of the halt to the extension work of the Liège tram to Herstal and Seraing seems like bad news. But we can consider that the arguments justifying the decision (the cost of the tram compared to the cheaper bus alternative) contribute to the Engagés’ discourse of accountability. In addition, they are not taking any electoral risk in the three municipalities concerned, where they carry almost no weight.
Starving presence in big cities
The fact remains that the major challenge of the local elections for Les Engagés, historically very well established in rural communities, will be to find a bit of colour in the big cities, particularly in Liège. There is of course Namur and Mouscron, where respectively Maxime Prévot (president of Les Engagés) and Brigitte Aubert are mayors. But these are the trees that hide the forest.
In Charleroi? Barely four elected to the municipal council in 2018, during the previous elections. Five in the city of Brussels, of which… three have since left the party. Three elected in Liège, Schaerbeek and Molenbeek. Two in Mons, Ixelles and Uccle (among the ten largest cities in the Wallonia-Brussels area). A starving representation.
Secretly, Les Engagés hope to double their number of municipal elected officials.
In the Brussels Region, Les Engagés and the MR, the other big winner of the June elections, have multiplied the joint lists. In Auderghem, Anderlecht, Watermael-Boitsfort, Schaerbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, Saint-Gilles… “I think it’s too muchjudges a Brussels Committed. “Our message is being muddled.”
In Brussels, an MR/Engaged azure front in many municipalities: “Victory in the Region must be able to count on the armed wing of the municipalities”
These alliances are variously appreciated on the markets by potential voters. The president of the PS, Paul Magnette, accused Les Engagés of being “in the MR’s trailer”The multiplication of joint lists reinforces, rightly or wrongly, this impression and risks frightening centre-left or “left-wing” voters.those who do not want the MR of Georges-Louis Bouchez”. Conversely, “Others are delighted to send the PS back into opposition”. Dilemma.
On paper, however, Les Engagés should be able to pop the champagne on the evening of October 13, both in Brussels and in Wallonia. Secretly, they hope to double their number of municipal elected officials.
