Els van Doesburg, second on the Antwerp N-VA list and therefore perhaps the ideal acting mayor if Bart De Wever remains in power and subsequently becomes prime minister, voted early. She did this together with her husband Peter De Roover, candidate for the Antwerp district council.
Van Doesburg went to vote in Antwerp North together with her husband Peter De Roover, but she still does not want to discuss her possible promotion if De Wever were to move to Wetstraat. “We have a party leader and that is Bart, who is mayor today and is again a candidate for mayor,” she says firmly. “I understand that people ask that question because I am in second place, but that is not the party leader, I have always been clear about that.”
For N-VA, van Doesburg hopes for “a few more seats in the municipal council” and therefore that the party will remain the largest. “That is of course the ambition, that we continue to deliver the mayor,” she says. The voter will first have to decide who N-VA will work with next.
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“I think we have managed well with Vooruit in recent years,” says the current alderman. “We had to get used to each other in the beginning, but we respected each other and everyone was able to approach the elections with their heads held high. I cannot predict whether we will be able to continue in the same way. One thing is certain: we have always excluded the extremes, and it is unfortunate to see that not every party does so.”
The dishes
“How does it feel to lead a political life in the shadow of this woman,” VRT reporter Kathleen Cools asked N-VA member Peter De Roover (62). “One shadow is not the same as the other,” said De Roover. “This is a very pleasant shade. And as you know: behind every successful woman there is a strong man.”
Van Doesburg rolled his eyes and made it clear who was wearing the pants in the De Roover-van Doesburg household: “The dishes weren’t done yet, but okay.” Peter De Roover immediately pleaded guilty: “It will be fine, the day is still young.”
