PS, PTB and Ecolo have an agreement “to present the mayor” in Forest. The three parties will govern together for the next six years with 25 seats out of 37. The socialist Charles Spapens obtains the mayorate. Local authorities have yet to validate the agreement but this is the first time that the PTB will have a majority in a municipality in the Brussels Region. The overall agreement and the distribution of aldermen will still have to wait a few days.
■ Explanations from Fabrice Grosfilley in the 12:30 p.m.
The question of forming coalitions with the communists divides the French-speaking parties. At the MR and at Les Engagés, the slogan is clear: no alliance with the extremes, and therefore with the extreme left. At the PS and at Ecolo, the door remains open although the question gives rise to internal debates. Among the Greens, no slogan was given: no green light, no stop sign, leaving the local sections to decide. Last week, for the first time, the PTB entered a majority in a Walloon municipality, following the agreement concluded in Mons with the PS and Ecolo.
In the Brussels Region, the PS also opened negotiations with the PTB in Molenbeek. Contacts also exist between these two groups in Schaerbeek, although in this case we cannot speak of negotiations strictly speaking.
► Read also | Communales 2024 – Forest: all the results
► Read also | “A mayor MR in Forest and Schaerbeek, or nothing”, says David Leisterh
A Forestthe MR-DéFi cartel emerged victorious in the municipal elections. The MR ceded the mayoralty to the socialists in Anderlecht and Ixelles, where the liberals were nevertheless in a good position and the president of the MR Georges-Louis Bouchez had repeated that “not all the municipalities are closed off. We are determined to have more than the three mayorates which are currently certain,” he declared the day after the municipal election. In Schaerbeek, discussions are underway after the defeat of mayor Bernard Clerfayt’s list. The PS came out on top, ahead of the MR-Les Engagés cartel. Georges-Louis Bouchez believes that his party is “able to be legitimate” in claiming the mayoralty.
On October 24, Brussels leader David Leisterh said nothing else: “The socialists already have many mayorates in Brussels. In Schaerbeek, we arrived tied with the PS, we continue to claim the mayoralty. It’s like in Forest: the problem in Brussels for the MR is that we can make 30%, we will always have the other 70 against us. For the moment, it’s the two mayors, or nothing.”
The presence of PTB in a municipal majority is not a first in Belgium. Under the previous legislature, the experiment was carried out in Zelzate (East Flanders), within a coalition formed with Vooruit. But this alliance has lived on. On October 13, the Socialists gained two seats while the Communists lost one. They were returned to the opposition.
► Report | Municipalities: despite the departure of Mariam El Hamidine, an Ecolo-PS-PTB majority is still possible in Forest
► Municipal file 2024
