Despite his party’s first place and the best score in preference votes, Paul-Olivier Delannois is pushed into opposition by an MR-Engagés-Ecolo alliance.
Former minister MR Marie Christine Marghem will be the next mayor of Tournai at the head of a tripartite majority MR, Committed, Ecolo, she announced Monday on La Première. Arriving first but in slight decline, the PS of Paul-Olivier Delannois is thus sent back to the opposition.
At the end of the vote, the PS still had 15 seats. But the good performance of the MR (11 seats, +1), the surge of the Engagés (7 seats) and the 4 seats of Ecolo (-3) swung the majority.
“We managed to reach a majority agreement that will manage Tournai“, affirmed Ms. Marghem, describing this surprise result as “quite extraordinary“, especially for her who has served on the municipal council for 30 years.
Mr. Delannois (6,768 votes) and outgoing Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder (5,338 votes) won the highest personal scores, ahead of Marie Christine Marghem (3,781 votes). This refutes that the overthrow of the majority constitutes a denial of democracy. “You can be popular but not be democratically chosen so that the city experiences real change.”
2024 municipal elections
