He is “the candidate who panics the traditional parties », headlined the front page of the Brussels daily on September 28 The Last Hour. On October 13, the day of the municipal (known as “communal”) election in Belgium, Fouad Ahidar hopes in any case to celebrate his 51st birthday at the same time as his success during these elections. His formation, Team Fouad Ahidar, will present itself in around ten of the nineteen municipalities which make up the Brussels-Capital region and intends to influence the composition of future majorities. The former social worker now sees even beyond: the confused political situation resulting from the June 9 vote has, it is true, transformed him into a possible arbiter for the constitution of a regional government.
“In the eyes of some, I was an Islamist; here I am, a trainer [du gouvernement régional] ! »recently joked this smiling, talkative and impulsive colossus, very popular in the north of the region, particularly within the large Arab-Muslim community. Meeting The World A few days ago, he was even thinking about a possible ministerial portfolio: housing, social affairs, cleanliness and the fight against noise pollution are his favorite themes, he explained. Just like the fight against harassment, a phenomenon that he says he suffered for twelve years when he was young.
His speech goes beyond communities of foreign origin: Fouad Ahidar is now more popular than many left-wing elected officials, including the outgoing president of the region, the French-speaking socialist Rudi Vervoort. On June 9, his “Team”, to everyone’s surprise, gleaned three seats of deputies out of the 17 guaranteed to the Flemish minority within the regional Parliament of Brussels-Capital, where French-speakers have 72 elected officials. In this bilingual region, a majority must emerge on both the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking sides for the formation of the government and the appointment of a minister-president. Generally complex, this negotiation seems, this time, to have become almost impossible given the dispersion of representation between six Flemish parties. The one who was, for five years, vice-president of the regional assembly nevertheless believed himself capable of solving the equation but, Friday October 4, he announced that he was putting “on pause” negotiations with other parties.
Sultry reputation
A practicing Muslim, former advisor to a Flemish nationalist minister, who joined the Flemish Socialist Party before being excluded, in 2022, for his refusal to condemn the ritual slaughter of animals, the perfectly bilingual elected official, it is true, carries a sulphurous reputation fueled by his speech described as communitarian by his adversaries, his contacts with a radical preacher from Molenbeek, his advocacy for the wearing of the veil, including for holders of a position of authority, or the remarks he made held in October 2023 on the Hamas terrorist attacks. A “little answer” to politics “genocidal” carried out for seventy-five years by Israel towards the Palestinians, he said, before apologizing a few days later and indicating that “any death is one death too many”.
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