As none of the 8 candidates that stood in the first round were able to gain a majority of the vote, the election for the leadership of the Flemish liberal party Open VLD will enter a second round. From today party member will be able to choose between the former Federal Secretary of State Eva De Bleeker and Vincent Verbeecke. Mr Verbeecke was a for Gwedolyn Rutten during her time as a minister in the Flemish Government.
The result of the second round of voting will be announed on Saturday. Whoever wins they won’t have an easy task given the crushing defeat suffered by the party in the elections held on 9 June.
Eva De Bleeker (50) is the former Federal State Secretary responsible for the budget and consumer affairs and is currently a member of the Flemish Pariament. She gained 26.3% of the votes of party members that voted. Ms De Bleeker polled 2,203 votes in total. Vincent Verbeecke was a spokesman for the former Flemish minister Gwendolyn Rutten. He polled 1,803 votes, 21.5% of the votes cast.
Open VLD members will be able to cast their votes from 12 noon today (Monday). Voting will close at 12 noon on Saturday. We will know the result some time on Saturday afternoon.
Not an easy task
Given the historic scale of the defeat suffered by the party on 9 June, the new party leader won’t have an easy job. He or she will have to not only persuade votes to vote for Open VLD, but will also need to unite a party that has been hit by internal squabbling during the past few years.
Just 1 in 5 party members bothered to vote in the first round. After many years in the federal coalition Open VLD is preparing for 5 years of opposition. Meanwhile, the Francophone liberals will more or less certainly be part of the next federal government coalition.