Frédéric De Gucht has been elected leader of the Flemish liberal party Open VLD. Mr De Gucht’s victory was resounding to say the least. He took 90.99% of the votes, leaving his two opponents Francis Uyttebrouk and Filip Walleyn with only around 9% between them. Frédéric De Gucht succeeds Eva De Bleeker, who announced her resignation as party leader in August after less than a year in the job.
In his victory speech earlier on Friday, Mr De Gucht said that “Politic is a team game. There is a long road ahead of us and we will travel it together, centimetre by centimetre”.
Mr De Gucht admits that the Flemish liberals are currently in a difficult position. “But a true Belgian is at his best when he is the underdog and we have a lot of battles ahead of us.”
He believes that “citizens are not there simply to provide support to the government. The government should not dictate, it should facilitate. The state should not build walls, it should remove obstacles and politics should not make things more difficult, but easier. Things have to change.”
Mr De Gucht added that Open VLD must be “rebellious and innovative” and “are to take risks”.
“We are economically on the right and not afraid of change. We are there for everyone that wants to climb the social ladder.
"We are there for all entrepreneurs that want to build a strong economy. For everyone that believes that ambition is not a disease but a strength”.