“Everyone can find themselves in their program”
In Jette, the Brussels MP (who was a member of Vooruit before founding his party less than a year ago) achieved the highest personal score in the municipality, ahead of mayor Claire Vandevivere (Les Engagés). Nothing to surprise Millan, originally from Spain and a resident of Brussels for thirty years. “He was able to count on the vote of people of North African origin in ever-increasing numbers here, that’s clear. He played the communitarianism card, reassuring them by defending Halal meat, Palestine, the veil… But there is not only communitarianism in the vote in his favor. I see it around me. Fouad Ahidar is a very good communicator. It played on everyday themes: security, cleanliness, mobility. In fact, everyone can find themselves in its program.”
Fouad Ahidar: “Show me a mosque where I campaigned, and I resign tomorrow”
“He must not lie down”
“If he was able to win, it’s because he is close to people, that’s all. He’s a former social worker. He knows a lot of people. Just like the candidates on his list, who came from middle class and we understandunderlines Yacub, who runs a café in the heart of Molenbeek. Besides, it’s simple, they’re the ones who have stopped by the most to ask us what’s bothering us, the problems we’re encountering.”
Abderaman and Najet, who run a small travel agency, say nothing else, “even if that doesn’t mean we voted for him.”. In their eyes, religious questions (the ritual slaughter threatened in Brussels, the veil, Gaza, etc.) are not the primary voting argument in favor of the Team Fouad Ahidar list.
Who won these 2024 municipal elections? Several parties won the vote, but we also have a “spectacular” loser
Khalid, a fierce supporter who runs a butcher’s shop, isn’t so sure. “His victory does not surprise me. It is very simple: it is communitarianism. We were looking for a leader, we were hungry to find one: we found it in him. He is popular in our communities, he understands us better than the others, he listens. You can tell him your pain and he will never turn a finger against you. He also defends halal meat, doesn’t bother us about our religion. It’s important. And he is much freer than the others, because he founded his own party. He must not lie down.” A customer nods vigorously.
On a terrace in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste square in Molenbeek, Adda is watching a video by Fouad Ahidar. “It’s a coincidencehe says, standing up. I work nights, I’m tired, I’m looking for new accommodation, so to take my mind off I watch TikTok. And his video appeared. But look: he speaks in Arabic.”regrets this Algerian who arrived in Belgium for 7 years, three of which he spent on the street. “I don’t trust him. His video is all talk. He’s a politician like any other. Besides, what does it mean to make videos in Arabic? The other Belgians, they don’t count? He only goes for people who look like him. That’s not politics.”
Immerse yourself in the disturbing underground Brussels countryside
A safe haven vote
In Anderlecht, the rain ends up permanently drowning the last leaflets floundering in the gutters. It’s time for the end of primary schools, and the “drache” is merciless. An old backpacker in local politics thinks back to yesterday’s results. “The Team Ahidar list is a refuge partyhe analyzes. In recent weeks, we have seen a drop in interest in the PTB and good momentum for Team Ahidar. So I think they collected left-wing votes, from people demanding an alternative.”
There would therefore be a bit of everything in this vote: a desire for security, cleanliness, a community, identity, religious vote… Such plebiscites, which were a bit catch-all and protesting, carried by a personality, there had also been some on the right: this was the case of the Dedecker List, even of Vlaams Belang in Anderlecht. “But these were epiphenomena. The elected representatives of these parties, with little experience, have contributed nothing to local politics. I note that the elected officials of Ahidar do not have much experience either. Will we still be talking about them in six years?” The question is open…
In the aftermath of the elections, Team Ahidar does not seem to have been the political incarnation of the mosques which have relays in all parties. On the other hand, it benefited from an alignment of the planets with the war in the Middle East which offered arguments to their candidates at the right time. Fouad Ahidar, free from any partisan line, was therefore able to establish himself in the landscape by not negotiating with the community and identity demands that he fully assumes. So no one knows what happens next. “I’m not fatalisticconcludes this Anderlecht framework rather marked on the left. Now, that’s not to say that Team Ahidar isn’t dangerous. It could encourage a liberation of communitarian speech in the Brussels political field. We’ll see…”