Guy D’haeseleer of the far-right party Vlaams Belang swore the oath required for him to officially become Mayor in the East Flemish town of Ninove of Thursday evening. Mr D’haeseleer’s Forza Ninove list won an absolute majority of the seats on Ninove Council at the local elections on 13th October. Forza Ninove that is the local branch of Vlaams Belang will govern Ninove alone for the next 6 years. Its figurehead Mr D’haeseleer has made history by becoming the first ever politician of the far-right to become Mayor of a Flemish municipality in peacetime. Around 50 demostrators gathered outside the Town Hall to protest against the far-right taking power in Ninove.
Forza Ninove won 47.4% of the votes in the municipal elections in Ninove on 13 October and has 18 of the 35 seats on the local council. Although there was a protest outside the Town Hall, inside the installation of Mr D’haerseleer as Mayor passed serenely.
Mr D'haeseleer promised to honour the pledges made by Forza Ninove in its manifesto adding that the people of Ninove had voted for a “Flemish, safe, clean and well-run Ninove and in contrast to what often happens after the election we will do what we said we would do before the election”.
The new Mayor intends to ensure that the town’s police station’s opening hours are extended. He and his team also intend to examine whether not-for-profit groups and projects that receive funding from the municipal authorities meet the goals that were set out when the applied for the funding. They also intend to “restore the Flemish character” of Ninove by stressing the importance of learning (and using) Dutch for non-Dutch speakers that are already there and by dissuading people that don’t speak Dutch from moving to Ninove.
Criticism from the opposition
There is strong criticism from the opposition of Mr D'haeseleer appoinment of his stepdaughter Malika Sclacmender as an Alderman “This goes directly against the spirit of electoral law” Stijn Vander Elst of the main opposition party Positief Ninove told VRT News.
The law prohibits blood relatives from sitting together on the municipal cabinet. However, as Ms Sclacmender's mother does not officially live with Mr D'haeseleer her appointment is not illegal. Nevertherless, “This does not alter the fact that the decision to appoint her is nepotism”, Mr Vander Elst said.
The use of proxies also comes under fire. “It is no coincidence that here in Ninove more than twice as many votes were cast by proxy than in other towns and cities” the socialist councillor Stijn Vermassen said. He added that he is convinced that Mr D’haeseleer’s claims that he did not actively sollicate proxies in the runup to the election “is a lie”.
Meanwhile, a criminal investigation into possible abuses of the proxy vote system in Ninove is still ongoing.
“Cordon sanitaire” breached?
Mr D’haeseleer claims that his appointment as Mayor means that the so-called “cordon sanitaire”, an agreement made by the parties more than 30 years ago not to enter into coalitions with the far-right has been breached.
However, as Forza Ninove has an absolute majority on Ninove council it doesn’t need to form a coalition in order to take power. As such, although the far-right is now in charge at Ninove Town Hall, the “cordon sanitaire” remains in tact in the East Flemish town.