The PS-Vooruit list, led by outgoing mayor Catherine Moureaux, won the elections in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean on October 13, despite losing 5 of the 17 seats it occupied under the previous legislature. The PTB-PVDA list followed closely with 11 seats (+4). This preceded the MR-Open VLD (8 seats) and Team Fouad Ahidar which made a resounding entry to the council, with 7 seats.
According to the socialist, the agreement will soon be presented in the general assemblies of the three parties concerned, before being detailed this Sunday, a few hours before the performance of the Molenbeek municipal council, this December 1.
A very short majority
In this commune in the west of the capital, the PS-Vooruit and PTB lists will together occupy 23 seats out of 45. This left-wing majority will therefore only hold one seat. It’s extremely short.
For several weeks, Catherine Moureaux and Dirk De Block discussed with other parties to try to expand their majority. Ecolo (2 seats) however closed the door. Discussions also took place with Team Fouad Ahidar (7 seats). Catherine Moureaux, who had tried to make a common list with her candidates, had no exclusivity regarding this list. But no agreement could be found with Team Ahidar, nor with the Molenbeek Otherwise list of the former CDH-Engagés, Ahmed El Khanouss (4 seats).
“There is a bourgeois reflex to want the comfort of a large majority. We have a majority with two solid and structured parties. It will hold, with discipline, but also by making agreements with other parties to ensure presence quorums”assures a political source.
The announcement of this coalition made David Leisterh, president of the Brussels MR and likely next Minister-President of Brussels, jump. “One more commune, Molenbeek, has just fallen into the hands of the communists. We cannot accept the participation in power of such a party, even less by glorifying majority agreements, he commented in a press release. Molenbeek, even more than any other, deserves much better than the communists in power.”
He also pointed out the “demonization” of a party and an ideology “responsible for so much pain, misery and death”.
“An experiment of the worst kind”: the MR not tender with the situation in Molenbeek
In Schaerbeek, tensions are slowly easing…
While an agreement is concluded in Molenbeek, eyes are now turning towards the 6th most populous municipality in the country. In Schaerbeek, discussions have been suspended for several weeks due to the standoff between the MR and the PS. The socialists, who came first in the commune, claimed the mayorship for their head of list, Hasan Koyuncu. The liberals, who gleaned second place in a cartel with the Engagés, however vetoed his nomination.
The PS then put pressure on the liberals by opening a channel of discussion with the PTB. However, according to our information, these discussions never really took off. On the other hand, the tension slowly eased between the liberals and the socialists in the city of donkeys. The different interlocutors speak to each other again, without being able to say that they have resumed real negotiations.
It seems certain that no new mayor will be able to take the oath this December 1st. Frédéric Nimal (Défi), acting mayor, will therefore remain in place until further notice.
