But elsewhere too, in smaller municipalities, certain political forces will play big for some and will have nothing to lose for others. A brief overview with a focus on 14 Walloon municipalities which will be followed during this election.
After 3 consecutive mandates, the former co-president of Écolo Jean-Michel Javaux has decided to give up control and will be content to push the list. The PS will try to take advantage of this to recover what was once one of its bastions.
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Mayor of Seilles then Andenne after the merger of the municipalities, Claude Eerdekens (PS) has 52 years of mayorship! And soon six more?
Already in 2012, the strong man of the City of Bears announced that he was running for a final mandate. Before still putting the cover back six years later. “For half a term,” he announced. It didn’t happen.
On Sunday, Claude Eerdekens will be a candidate again. But this time he will push the PSD@ list (17 seats out of 29), which is now drawn by the outgoing first alderman Vincent Sampaoli.
Faced with this duo, competition should come mainly from the main opposition force, the AD&N citizens’ list (9/29), led by outgoing councilor Martine Dieudonné-Olivier. But we will also have to take into account the new list 5300, born from a dissidence that appeared under this mandate within the majority and which is led by outgoing councilor Cassandra Luongo.
It was in a fairly tense climate that the campaign was carried out. Withdrawals of the mayor’s running mates, accusations of harassment and denunciations of sexist remarks particularly agitated this, while the mayor’s ears did more than whistle. In such a context, the cards could therefore be redistributed.
In any case, this Sunday, it is a real piece of history that the voters of Andenne will write: that of an unprecedented longevity which continues to lengthen, or that of the end of ‘an era which has already lasted for more than half a century…
Municipal elections 2024: in Andenne, we feel the tide turning, the PS of Claude Eerdekens is threatened
Voice machine in Luxembourg, Benoît Lutgen (Les Engagés) is the favorite and is seeking a 3rd consecutive mandate in this municipality which is merging with its neighbor Bertogne (whose current mayor, Jean-Marc Franco, occupies 3rd place on Lutgen’s list ).
In Bastogne, will the decision-makers of the merger be the masters of the new Commune at the end of the elections?
The cards are reshuffled while the outgoing majority finds itself splashed by several legal investigations. In a majority versus opposition duel, Patrick Adam (PS), mayor in office, only occupies 15th place (out of 17) in an opening list drawn by Pierre Defat, the son of former mayor MR.
2024 municipal elections in Bouillon: in a tense climate, a first since 1994?
After an end of mandate punctuated in particular by private conflicts between members of the majority, an exclusion from the list and a series of resignations, the race for mayor is more open than ever between the outgoing mayor Frédéric Deville (ICI-MR) , the current first alderwoman Anne Pirson (c.vous-Les Engagés) and Frederick Botin (C Clair-MR).
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Ejected from City Hall in 2018 after 24 years as mayor, Richard Fournaux (MR) is fomenting a new revolution in the city of Dinant, where the current majority only exists on paper. Facing him, and after the resignation of Axel Tixhon (Engaged), Thierry Bodlet, also MR, hopes to stay in office.
2024 municipal elections in Dinant: there will be a revolution again, that’s a certainty
The withdrawal of the incumbent mayor Yves Binon (MR), in office since 2001, leaves the field open to the new Walloon minister-president Adrien Dolimont, who will this time lead the list with the aim of retaining the absolute majority.
2024 municipal elections in Ham-sur-Heure/Nalinnes: the MR list is (almost) closed around the essential Adrien Dolimont
A true socialist bastion, will the Meuse city change sides?
Driving force of the opposition for six years, the Ecolo list (7 seats out of 27) of Rodrigue Demeuse poses as the main rival of the PS list (12/27) led by Christophe Collignon, outgoing mayor and ex-Walloon minister, within of a commune where the attitude of the MR (3/27) will perhaps prove decisive for the constitution of the next majority.
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At the head of the Famous city since 1986, André Bouchat (Les Engagés) is seeking an eighth consecutive term.
Aged 85, he is the oldest mayor currently in office. And nothing seems to be able to stop him. Not even a regional minister-president…
We remember that, in 2018, the Walloon Prime Minister Willy Borsus (MR) tried to dethrone him. In vain. While he was only pushing the list, Bouchat had once again outclassed all his rivals, starting with René Collin, regional minister who drew the mayor’s list for the occasion.
This time again, the outgoing mayor will push his list (14 seats out of 25), where René Collin has disappeared but where we find the new regional minister Valérie Lescrenier. Borsus, this time, will be content to push the MR list (6/25).
Municipal elections in Marche-en-Famenne: André Bouchat taking on an 8th term and 40 years as mayor
When he seized the mayorship in 2000, Jean-Luc Rolland became the first Green mayor of Belgium. Nearly a quarter of a century later, the Greens, now led by Julie Chantry, remain at the helm of the university city.
But they trembled in January 2022, when Écolo (10 seats out of 31) narrowly thwarted the formation of an alternative majority which would have brought together its Engagés (7/31) and PS (3/31) partners with the MR (9 /31).
Feeling the tide turning, the party decided to send former regional minister Céline Tellier into battle: she will push Julie Chantry’s list. What can save this historic mayorate?
Municipal elections 2024: Who will be mayor of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve? The game is more open than ever
Sidelined by Les Engagés at the regional level, André Antoine has not turned his back on politics. On Sunday, he will try to recover the mayorate lost (for 1 seat) in 2018 to the benefit of Jordan Godfriaux. The appearance of a 3rd list in the municipality, however, opens the game.
Municipal elections 2024 | Perwez: this time, the duel between Jordan Godfriaux and André Antoine will have a referee
Convicted in a morals case, Jean-Charles Luperto has this time exhausted all possible legal remedies. The PS, however, chose not to exclude him: mayor since 2006, Luperto will therefore once again lead the socialist list (20 out of 29 seats).
Facing him, the opposition Écolo (4/29), DéFI (2/29), Les Engagés (1/29) MR & Citoyens (2/29) united under the banner of Ensemble, carried by… the former first socialist alderman Olivier Bordon. Since then, Écolo has left the group and the DéFI candidates have resigned from their party. The socialist absolute majority will therefore face an opposition made up of the Ensemble cartel, Ecolo, but also the PTB and the UDLI group.
If this should not fundamentally upset the established order, the main interest of the ballot will therefore be on the evolution of the mayor’s personal score (4,924 votes in 2018).
Municipal elections in Sambreville: Luperto’s PS more challenged, but difficult to dethrone
A true socialist bastion, the Iron City should not fall this time. But the PS could have to share power there with the PTB for the next 6 years.
Indeed, the socialist list led by outgoing mayor Déborah Géradon (and pushed by her predecessor Francis Bekaert) will have to fight to retain its absolute majority (20 seats out of 39). And the pressure exerted on the left by the PTB (11/39) is all the stronger as the other opposition parties, MR (4/39) and Ecolo (4/39), have decided to form a cartel , joined by Les Engagés.
From a strategic point of view, if the PS were to lose its absolute majority, we can easily imagine the PTB using this situation to force the opening of other majorities in the Liège region, in exchange for the conservation of this historic mayorate.
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With a penetration rate of 64.33% of the votes in 2018, Yves Besseling (MR) was the Walloon champion in this area. Will he be dethroned in 2024?
In Vaux-sur-Sûre, is the cart sometimes put before the horse in certain projects?
