This turnaround is surprising… Catherine Moureaux (PS) and Dirk De Block (PTB) seemed confident last week when they announced their agreement. However, they were aware that their majority was only one seat.
.Interviewed at the microphone of La Première (RTBF) this Friday morning, Catherine Moureaux explained that recent days had shown that her coalition was not reliable enough, with certain elected officials taking advantage of the very short majority (23 seats out of 45) to sharpen their requirements.
The socialist section of Molenbeek, this is not new, is in the grip of an internal war.
According to information from La Libre, Jamal Azzaoum, outgoing Sports alderman, but who does not appear in the new casting, refused to sign the act of presentation of the majority (Editor’s note: this document formalizes the candidacy as mayor).
With 22 seats out of 45, the count was no longer there.
The mayor’s gaze was therefore turned towards… a municipal councilor MR, a party which nevertheless joined the opposition.
Catherine Moureaux “returns” an elected MR
Catherine Moureaux met the municipal councilor MR Mohamad Chehad this Wednesday evening to ask him to sign his certificate of majority with the PTB…
Against all expectations and despite all usual logic, the liberal municipal councilor agreed to support the PS-PTB majority. And signed the certificate of presentation of majority.
Catherine Moureaux therefore had her majority, thanks to this support from an elected official from the opposition.
But the matter did not end there.
A withdrawal letter
This Thursday, Mohamad Chehad decided to retract. In a letter sent to the municipal director of the municipality of Molenbeek, which La Libre was able to consult, he stated this: “As of November 27, I signed a presentation list. However, I would like to clarify that this signature was obtained under duress and pressure, which vitiated my consent.”
He declares, in this letter, to retract and requests the cancellation of his signature and says he reserves “the right to take any appropriate legal action, including filing a complaint, in order to assert my rights.”
This letter, once received by the municipal director, was then sent to the Brussels Minister of Local Authorities, Bernard Clerfayt (Défi), in order to know what action to take on this letter.
Still, this request for retraction has weakened an already very short and shaky majority, pushing Catherine Moureaux to look for a new majority partner.
gullThis is the first time I’ve been elected, I don’t know the system and I haven’t received much of an explanation. I didn’t really know what an act of presentation entailed. (…) The way I was made to sign is not correct.”
“I received a lot of pressure“, confirms Mohamad Chehad, contacted by La Libre. “I am of Lebanese origin, and after the words of Georges-Louis Bouchez (Editor’s note: the president of the MR had described the beeper attack carried out by Israel in Lebanon against members of Hezbollah as a “stroke of genius“), the socialists thought that perhaps I could join them… I had a lot of requests from Catherine Moureaux in this direction, then I discussed with her“, explains this municipal councilor MR. “But I explained that, if I left the MR, it was a priori rather to sit as an independent and that I had to make my decision without pressure. But they insisted a lot, they put pressure on me“.
Other members of the party report more insidious pressures, linked to the activity of this elected official in the social sector, which the person concerned does not wish to comment on.
“This is the first time I have been elected, I don’t know the system and I haven’t received many explanations. I didn’t really know what an act of presentation entailed.“, continues Mohamad Chehad This Wednesday, after a lot of pressure, I ended up signing. The next day, I learned that I was the 23rd signatory, the one who had swung the majority. I withdrew my signature. The way I was made to sign is not correct. For the moment, I am still at MR. As for what happens next, I don’t know yet.”
Contacted by La Libre, Catherine Moureaux did not respond to our requests for reaction.
The PS-Vooruit list, led by outgoing mayor Catherine Moureaux, won the elections in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean on October 13, not without losing 5 of the 17 seats it occupied under the previous legislature. The PTB-PVDA list followed closely with 11 seats (+4). This precedes the MR-Open Vld (8 seats) and Team Fouad Ahidar which entered the council, with 7 seats.
The Molenbeek list Otherwise from the ex-CdH-Engagés, Ahmed El Khanouss obtains 4 seats; Ecolo-Groen, 2, and Engagés-CD&V (1).
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