A meeting of the Ghent branch of the Flemish socialist party Vooruit has voted against an agreement between the Voor Gent list (made up of socialists and liberals) and the Flemish nationalist party N-VA to form a new coalition to run Ghent City Council for the next 6 years.
56% of the 350 Vooruit members that attended the meeting on Sunday evening voted against the accord. 44% voted in favour. A two-thirds majority in favour was required for Vooruit to enter into the coalition.
As 2 weeks have elasped since the municipal elections and no coalition has yet been formed, the so-called “right of initiative”, the right to try a form a coalition now passes to the party that came second on 13 October, the green party Groen. They will have 2 weeks to try and form a new coalition.
Since it was announced that the Voor Gent list intended to form a coalition with the nationalist there has been protest from left-of-centre organisations and individuals including supporters and members of Vooruit. As the same time the local branch of the liberal party Open VLD welcomed the idea of a coalition with the nationalists. The question of the lips of many commentators is now whether Voor Gent will survive or the liberals and socialists in the city will now choose to go their separate ways.