An unexpected breakthrough which is the work of one man: Jos D’Haese. A very active regional parliamentarian, the Antwerp resident, whose mother Mie Branders sits on the municipal council, has more than 170,000 followers on Tik-Tok. In the commune, the communist collected more than 36,000 regional votes in June, ahead of Tom Van Grieken (around 25,000 votes) and Jan Jambon (23,000). But that remains less than De Wever and his 56,000 federal votes.
In Bart De Wever’s stronghold, in Antwerp, second place goes… to the PTB: a TikTok MP cast more votes than Jambon and Van Grieken
But, all the same, this unexpected personal score, attributed to massive use of TikTok and a communitarian campaign on Israeli-Palestinian issues, caused a lot of ink to flow in the port metropolis. To the point that some are talking about a possible success for the Marxists in the municipal elections on Sunday and a completely reshuffled card game in Antwerp. Even a dethroning of Bart De Wever.
Everything will depend on Vooruit and Groen
Boosted by his June results, Jos D’Haese says he believes in it and positions himself as mayoral candidate. To win the mayorate or even win an aldermanship, the PTB will have to find allies. It is certainly not Bart De Wever who will offer the key to the city to the far left, nor an Open VLD or a CD&V, both in very poor form in Antwerp. Even less the Vlaams Belang of the sulphurous Filip Dewinter. All eyes are now on the left, Vooruit and Groen.
Remember that Antwerp (municipality of half a million inhabitants, the largest in Belgium) has an additional subdivision into districts, with their own aldermen and mayors, their own elections and their own majorities. In the popular district of Borgerhout, Groen and Vooruit govern with the PTB, which has a district aldermanship.
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Between the three of them (PTB, Vooruit and Groen), the prospect of a municipal majority this October 13 does not arithmetically amount to a crazy pipe dream given the weak centrist and liberal results. But the probability of seeing a “New Popular Front” appear in Antwerp, combining communists, classical left and ecologists, seems very low.
guillement“A communist who runs a city like Antwerp, I find that to be a problem.”
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This Sunday, on the VRT, Kathleen Van Brempt, head of the Vooruit list, ruled out a mayor Jos D’Haese, judged “too extreme.” “A communist running a city like Antwerp, I find that to be a problem.” Groen, for his part, says he only excludes Vlaams Belang.
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Currently, the N-VA governs with liberals and socialists. The most likely future Antwerp coalition would be the one still combining the N-VA with Vooruit, as at the Flemish level. With to make any extra, the CD&V or the Open VLD. But the result of these two groups, which have been struggling for a decade to renew their local sections, remains to be seen. In 2018, the Liberals only obtained two seats and the CD&V three. On the other hand, Groen had made a breakthrough, coming second party with eleven seats. If liberals and centrists stagnate and, at the same time, PTB and Belang improve their scores, the Greens will appear almost essential in De Wever’s team.
