Bart Tommelein announces political retirement after defeat in Ostend

Bart Tommelein (Open VLD) says goodbye to active politics. The mayor of Ostend announced this after Vooruit became the largest party in the seaside city.

Tommelein must hand over the mayoralty to John Crombez. He did say that Trots op Oostende, his cartel list with Open VLD, CD&V and Groen, is open to a coalition with Vooruit in Ostend. “Are we satisfied? Of course not. Are we still proud of what we have done in this campaign and over the past six years? I am extremely proud of this team,” he said. “It is of course the time to draw conclusions. I will let the Vooruit party leader know that Trots op Oostende is open to discussions. Two coalitions are possible. Vooruit with N-VA and Vooruit with Trots op Oostende. It’s not up to me to decide that.”

Afterwards Tommelein had to shed a tear. He announced that he would relinquish his mayoral sash, and then announced that he was also leaving active politics. “I am still proud of Ostend,” Tommelein ended his speech, clearly emotional. “I am someone who was ambitious for our city. And I hope that the new team can meet the challenges of this city.” Tommelein is clearly disappointed. “But I had taken everything into account.”

Vooruit Plus by John Crombez gets 38.6 percent of the votes in Ostend. Proud of Ostend van Tommelein reaches 19.3 percent.

Bart Tommelein has been mayor of Ostend since January 2019. He had previously had a long political career. The liberal was, among other things, Flemish Minister of Finance, Budget and Energy from 2016 to 2018, and State Secretary for Combating Social Fraud, Privacy and the North Sea from 2014 to 2016.