Guy D’haeseleer (Forza Ninove) beams when he receives his first “stemfie” around half past eight. A selfie from the polling station, with the bubble behind D’haeseleer colored in. It’s only one vote, you might think, but it makes the eyes of the candidate mayor for Vlaams Belang in Ninove clear up. “And I have already voted for myself, so that is already two,” says D’haeseleer plainly. “And I also voted for you,” adds the daughter of D’haeseleer’s friend. “Look, look, there are already three.”
“That attendant with a headscarf? This affects the neutrality of the polling station.”
Guy D’haeseleer
Candidate mayor Forza Ninove
Since all other parties have ruled out a coalition with Forza Ninove in advance, D’haeseleer only has one way to win the sash on the Dender: achieving an absolute majority on his own. And for that, every vote clearly counts. Especially since D’haeseleer had to watch with sorrow how low the turnout was when he cast his vote himself. “No queues, nothing? I expected more people. Hopefully it is a snapshot, but I think the abolition of compulsory attendance will have a great effect. (Read more below the photo)
D’haeseleer is concerned about the low turnout. — © Frank Abbeloos
After casting his own vote in the school behind his door, D’haeseleer goes to the center of Ninove to vote again, with a proxy of course. There, an attendant wearing a headscarf asks for his identity card. “I don’t think that’s possible, a co-driver with a headscarf,” D’haeseleer says afterwards. “This affects the neutrality of the polling station.” But here too, his biggest concern was the low turnout. “Normally there is queuing here.”
Phone to N-VA
After voting – twice – D’haeseleer goes to the Vlaams Huis in Ninove, the café that serves as a club room for Forza Ninove. It’s not even ten o’clock yet, but the beer is already flowing freely. “I was out until half past five and just went to vote,” says a Forza voter as he downs a Jupiler – from the bottle. D’haeseleer has also ventured into alcohol. “Normally I don’t drink, but here I occasionally drink a Ninoofs Leeuwtje with customers. That’s my own beer, so yes, I have to drink that. Otherwise people won’t believe you.”
“What will he be able to do as mayor? He must take into account all laws and parliamentary rules.”
Forza Ninove voter
Flemish House
After Ninoof’s Leeuwtje, Cola Zero’s follow, and he is constantly busy with his mobile phone. “A proxy is a proxy,” is what he says on the line with a Forza sympathizer who is experiencing problems casting a proxy vote. Where there are problems with casting a proxy vote (on Forza Ninove), D’haeseleer is the helpline in Ninove and the candidate mayor solves those problems himself. (Read more below the photo)
He doesn’t normally drink, but occasionally he has to, like on election morning. — © Frank Abbeloos
In between arranging proxies, D’haeseleer also provides voting advice for the cameras in the Flemish House. “A vote for N-VA is a vote for the local Vivaldi coalition. Those who want to break the cordon, those who do not want interference from national party leaders, those who want real change, have only one choice: Forza.” Well said, Guythe bar responds.
“I will call even if there is an absolute majority”
The N-VA, which D’haeseleer opposes, can expect to receive a call from D’haeseleer tonight. “Even if I get an absolute majority, I’m going to call them. The question is whether they will finally do what their voters want: form a Flemish nationalist majority.” But not everyone in the Flemish House believes that things will be different in Ninove with such a majority. “I hope so man Easy becomes mayor, but even then: what will he be able to do here in Ninove? He must still take into account all laws and parliamentary rules. I don’t think that much will change.”
With his mobile phone in hand, he tries to solve all kinds of problems with powers of attorney. — © Frank Abbeloos
