Legally, he could therefore neither appear on the electoral list of October 13, nor be elected. He had also served for a few months on the municipal council, at the very end of the previous legislature (from March to October 2024), replacing a resigning councilor, Charlotte Tilman, which was just as illegal. The agent has visibly gone under the radar, through the various filters for validating applications and elected officials. “The person concerned didn’t say anything to anyone, but he couldn’t help but be aware. The presidents of the municipal offices, who approve the lists and who had the list of ineligible people, validated his candidacy, as did the general director of the Municipality. It was only at the 4th filter that the concern was brought to light, when the supervisory authority examined the majority pact to validate it. The file was sent to the minister who informed the Commune recently”we explain to the SPW.
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A hiccup for the new coalition which has a very narrow majority (9 elected against 8 elected in the opposition). She now finds herself neck and neck with the opposition. There is also uncertainty over the validity of the majority pact recently voted on at the council meeting on December 2, but also over the validity of the college and the CPAS council. The elected official, who therefore sits illegally, should logically resign in favor of his substitute.
A rare case
The Minister of Local Authorities, François Desquesnes (Engagés), referred to the file, spoke about this atypical and rare case. “As part of the general supervision of cancellation, the minister received the file through his administrationexplains its spokesperson. The administration has proposed extending the guardianship file until the end of January 2025 for further investigation.”
The SPW (Public Service of Wallonia), for its part, confirms the information. “We became aware of the problem as part of the verification by the supervisory authority of Walloon majority pactsexplains the spokesperson. In any case, it is unthinkable that the elected official will keep his mandate.” Concerning the sequel, the SPW details the two hypotheses which are on the table. One: the minister decides to invalidate the majority pact which must then be revote. “All the decisions taken since December 2 are also invalidated and everything has to start again: installation of the municipal council and social action (CPAS), vote on the pact…”, explains the spokesperson. The minister has 30 days to decide with a 15-day extension which leads to approximately January 20. Two: the majority convenes a council quickly to ask to “confirm” the majority pact.
The Nandrines college, which has not yet reacted, met this late Thursday afternoon and was to analyze the procedure to follow. A municipal council meeting was already scheduled for December 30.
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Lemmens: “A bomb that explodes in the hands of the majority”
On the side of the B + opposition of Michel Lemmens (outgoing mayor), we are surprised and we intend to enter the breach… “This is very surprising news which explains why Luc Burette was not there at the municipal council on Monday evening. We will consult a law firm to consider possible action on our part.” The opposition group does not rule out any follow-up: calling into question the legality of the elections, the college, the majority pact, “if it’s relevant”. “This situation confirms in any case that this narrow majority is not going to hold up. At the slightest hiccup, they are on the tightrope. And the consequences are significant: the college being illegal, all the decisions that have been taken since the 2 December are obsolete, voted by too small a majority. It is in any case a bomb which explodes in the hands of the majority.
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