This article will be continuously updated on election day.
The situation before 13/10 in Zele
Mayor: Hans Knop (CD&V)
Majority
CD&V: 12 seats.
Forward: 1 seat.
Independent: 1 seat.
Opposition
Zele#Anders: 6 seats.
N-VA/Zele Vlakaf: 4 seats.
More livable Zele: 3 seats.
Independent: 1 seat.
Participating parties on 13/10: Vooruit, CD&V, Vlaams Belang, N-VA, Lokaal Alternatief, Leefbaarder Zele, Zele Anders.
With about half of the votes counted, CD&V remains, as predicted, the largest in Zele (32.6 percent), although with a slight loss. ZeleAnders seems to be the loser of the day for the time being, but retains second place. Although there is little difference with N-VA, Leefbaarder Zele, Lokaal Alternatief and Vlaams Belang, which all fluctuate between 15 and 10 percent.
Looking back on the past management period
In 2018, voters gave CD&V a strong mandate in Zele. The party became by far the largest, but still needed a coalition partner. She found it with Leefbaarder Zele and Francis De Donder. But the marriage was short-lived. There was a break and Vooruit joined the coalition. At Leefbaarder Zele, Tamara Van Laere decided to remain with the majority as an independent, at Vooruit Gürkan Aslan was expelled from the party and ended up in the opposition as an independent.
The municipal council in Zele was almost always very noisy during this legislature, the path chosen by CD&V turned out to be one in the opposition’s basket. Action was taken against the new circulation plan that was eventually introduced. And there were lawsuits against the reconstruction of the Market.
Hans Knop has been the victim of personal attacks several times, but also has many supporters. All school environments were tackled, the fire station is almost finished and the VHVD sports hall was demolished to make way for homes. He is aiming for a second term as mayor.
The expectation
It remains to be seen whether the circulation plan will have an impact on the number of seats of CD&V. To keep up with the game, Dirk De Mey will have to do his best with Zele#Anders. More livable Zele with Francis De Donder appears a second time, Vlaams Belang is there again. And Freddy Massart, once chairman of the OCMW, joined forces with Zele Vlakaf to create the new Local Alternative list. Serdar Celik leads the battle at Vooruit and Kim Van Cauteren does so for N-VA. The prediction is that CD&V will remain the largest, but who will be drawn into the coalition pool?
This article will be supplemented with analyzes and responses as soon as possible on election day, October 13, 2024.
