Four lists aim to succeed Olivier Deleuze, and to achieve this, they have pulled out all the stops to overturn a vote which promises to be more than undecided in a town which went green in 2012 after having been for many years a stronghold of Challenge .
Watermael and Boitsfort, the two Brussels stations where the trains are the most late: “it’s very painful”
Despite the electoral slap suffered in June in the Brussels Region, Ecolo/Groen will not be a bird for the cat. We will have to count on them. Former Brussels MP Tristan Roberti displays his ambitions: to make Watermael-Boitsfort a green bastion. In 2012, the town became the first in the capital to go green, thanks to Olivier Deleuze. The latter will provide his support by pushing the Ecolo/Groen list and does not rule out sitting on the future municipal council, but without running for a new executive mandate. Ecolo is counting on the green anchor in the municipality to maintain around the 12 seats obtained in 2018.
Present within the majority, MR-Gestion Municipale sealed a partnership with Les Engagés last January, well before the results of the June elections. For the next legislature, the MR-GM-Les Engagés list can count on a major leader. David Leisterh, strongly anticipated to become the future minister-president of the Brussels Region, declares himself a mayoral candidate, despite the decumulation coming into force. If his list obtains the mayorate, which, given the dynamics, is probable, David Leisterh would resign from his seat as Brussels deputy to take the oath as mayor of Watermael-Boitsfort. He would then become, when the future regional majority is in place, an impeded mayor. Given the current blockage in the Region, David Leisterh could remain mayor for some time.
Four lists ready to govern
Ecolo and MR governed the commune together, without great tensions. A renewal of this alliance is therefore possible. Currently, no pre-agreement has been announced at Watermael-Boitsfort, and no exclusive has been declared.
The first alderwoman slams the door of the Watermael-Boitsfort college: “I am unable to continue my mandate in an acceptable manner”
On the side of the Défi and PS opposition, the objective is clear: to be part of the next majority by breaking the Ecolo-MR tandem. For the first time in many years, the Challenge list will not be led by a Payfa. The amaranths are banking on renewal with Laura Squartini. Despite the party’s poor form, Laura Squartini hopes to take advantage of Défi’s historic voters in the commune to remain the second party or even rise to the top.
On the left, the socialists are campaigning under the name PS-Vooruit-CauseCommune, half of the list being dedicated to opening candidates not registered with a party. MP Martin Casier will lead the list. The leader of the socialist group in the Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation is indeed a candidate for mayor, but does not comment on his future if his list rises to a majority, without the mayorate.
37 housing units, an extension and an interior garden within the old church: the Saint-Hubert file in Watermael-Boitsfort resurfaces
An RNV citizen list, for its part, will try to enter the municipal council. The next legislature will in any case be animated by several issues, such as the end of the Place Keym construction site in November, the saga of the Saint-Hubert church, the future of the Champ des Cailles (see below) and the development of the municipality for youth.
The file that rotted the legislature: The future of the Champ des Cailles
It’s a saga that has driven Watermael-Boitsfort for many years. We remember the controversy surrounding the social housing project on the Champ des Cailles land, where the public service real estate company (SISP) Le Logis Floréal is planning the construction of 70 housing units. This project initially aroused strong opposition from the non-profit organization La Ferme du Chant des Cailles, which temporarily used this land located between avenue des Cailles and avenue des Archiducs.
Champ des Cailles: the housing project in Watermael Boitsfort returns to the front of the farm
The municipality of Watermael-Boitsfort, under the direction of its mayor Olivier Deleuze (Ecolo), had aligned itself with the position of the non-profit organization. The mayor then suspended the specific land use plan, currently being finalized, which was to govern the development of the area, in the hope of slowing down the construction project. Since then, an agreement has been made between the non-profit organization and Logis Floréal in 2023 in the form of a concession for 10 years of a large part of the field to continue agricultural activities. If an agreement seems to have been reached between the protagonists of the site, this is not necessarily the case for the political aspect, where the position seems clear: no construction on the site, except for the PS. The file is not about to be closed and should quickly return to the table of the future majority.
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