ELECTION DAY. Who are the winners and losers in Schoten? Annelies Verlinden about low turnout: “Hopefully enough support for the newly elected board” (Schoten)

Annelies Verlinden: “Hopefully enough support for the newly elected board”

This time, unlike June 9 during the Flemish elections, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V Plus) did not have to wait long at election station 21 in her old Holy Family school. After exercising her right to vote, she made an explicit appeal to everyone to still vote. “That is possible until 3 p.m. today,” says Verlinden.

He said he was somewhat concerned about the representativeness of the new board if the trend of low turnout continues. At her election office, not even half of all invited voters had attended by noon.

“We have had a very good and warm campaign with CD&V Plus with a great team. Now it’s out of our hands of course. We hope to have more than the three elected representatives in the municipal council today,” said the minister. Her next appointment was a birthday party for one of her nephews.

Mayor Maarten De Veuster (N-VA): “I expect a neck-and-neck race with Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang)”

To his own surprise, Mayor Maarten De Veuster (N-VA) did not have to attend when he reported himself visibly relaxed with his wife and son to the polling station in the Holy Family school around 10 am. “Otherwise it’s always a matter of waiting here. I also hear that it is quiet elsewhere. We will have to wait and see whether these are the effects of the abolition of compulsory voting,” said the mayor.

He suspects that the elections in Schoten will result in a battle between him and Tim Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang). “And it will be ‘close’,” expects the man who would like to start his third term as the first citizen.

Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang) went to vote quite early, this time in a room in Koninghsof. Tom Van Grieken moved last summer from his mansion in the Deuzeld district to that residential area in the green. Just like in June, the Vlaams Belang chairman and challenger to mayor Maarten De Veuster (N-VA) was surrounded by television crews. VTM News went live. VRTNWS recorded interviews.

Tom Van Grieken is counting on a high turnout to shake Mayor De Veuster

Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang) went to vote quite early, this time in a room in Koninghsof. Tom Van Grieken moved last summer from his mansion in the Deuzeld district to that residential area in the green. Just like in June, the Vlaams Belang chairman and challenger to mayor Maarten De Veuster (N-VA) was surrounded by television crews. VTM News went live. VRTNWS recorded interviews.

Van Grieken called on the residents of the municipality where he has lived since 2017 to go out and vote. According to him, this is the only way to shake the position of the strong mayor. The first signs are that turnout is not high.

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More people at the bakery than at Schoten electoral offices

In Schoten it is remarkably quiet at most polling stations on Sunday morning. In the Holy Family school, where there are normally long lines at the three polling stations located there, you could now simply walk in. Candidates Kris Van Ham (Green) and Stephanie Vanden Eede, party leader of Vooruit, among others, came to cast their votes.

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In 2018, N-VA emerged as the big winner with almost 44 percent of the votes. The team of outgoing mayor Maarten De Veuster, who would later also be elected as a Flemish Member of Parliament, achieved an absolute majority. Nevertheless, N-VA decided to include the only Open VLD councilor Paul Valkeniers in the management team.

Vlaams Belang, led by Tom Van Grieken, who had only recently moved to Schoten, remained stuck at almost 21 percent. The main focus now is to see to what extent Van Grieken can challenge Maarten De Veuster six years later.

We also have to look forward to seeing what weight Annelies Verlinden (CD&V Plus) can weigh. The minister decided not to draw the list of the Christian Democrats, which had been expanded to include independents, but is a list pusher.

On the left, in Schoten, in addition to Groen and Vooruit – with lawyer Jan De Man as a surprising candidate – there is also PVDA to choose from.

This article will be supplemented with analyzes and responses as soon as possible on election day, October 13.