Members of the Flemish liberal party Open VLD are voting to elect a new leader. Voting got under way today (Wednesday 15 October) and will continue until Friday. There are three candidates to take over the reins from the incumbent Eva De Bleeker. Ms De Bleeker resigned after less than a year as leader Open VLD. In addition to the favourite Frédéric De Gucht, there are two other candidates: Francis Uyttebrouk and Filip Walleyn.
The former Federal Secretary of State Eva De Bleeker became leader of the Flemish liberals following last year’s federal, regional and European elections, in which the party suffered heavy losses. However, another poor showing in last October’s local elections and a series of poor results in opinion polls indicate that she has not been able to turn the tide.
The leader of Open VLD’s City of Brussels branch Frédéric De Gucht has long been tipped as a potential successor. The son of the former party leader, federal minister and European commissioner Karel De Gucht is the favourite in the leadership race. He stood last year too but only finished 4th.
Since then, Mr De Gucht has become more well-known, not least because he is the Flemish liberal’s chief negotiator for the formation of a new regional government in the Brussels-Capital Region.
Mr De Gucht’s opponents are relatively unknown outside their own local areas. Francis Uyttebrouk has been retired since 2018. Previously he had a long career with the petroleum company ExxonMobil.
He also works in consultancy. He describes himself as a “radical liberal” and a “liberal opinion-maker”.
From the West Flemish city of Bruges, Filip Walleyn set up EU Workforce, a company that helps other companies find sub-contractors in other European countries, primarily Poland. He plans to give the party a new direction and a new name: ‘Libra’, which stands for ‘Liberal Right Alternative’. All party members are eligible to vote. The results of the leadership election will be announced on Friday.
A recent opinion poll put the Flemish liberals at just 5.7%.