2023-11-17 19:31:26
The president of the Flemish Socialists has experienced a meteoric personal rise which has allowed him to put a moribund party back on track barely four years ago.
Like Icarus, Conner Rousseau, by dint of climbing ever higher, ended up burning his wings. After four years at the head of Vooruit, the Flemish socialist party, its president stepped down on Friday evening following an extraordinary party council.
If the Flemish Socialists are today the third party in Flanders, with 16% of voting intentions, they owe it mainly to the rejuvenation treatment instilled by Conner Rousseaua true political animal who perfectly masters the communication style of social networks.
Playmobil Governments
Conner Rousseau fell into politics when he was little. His mother, Christel Geerts, was a senator and sp.a mayor of Saint-Nicolas. Her great-grandmother, Maria Desmet, was one of the first women to sit in the Senate, also on the socialist benches. As for his father, Jo Rousseau, he was a municipal councilor in Nieuwpoort. “When I was a kid, I made governments with my Playmobils. They knew how to listen to me, it wasn’t difficult,” he told us one day.
On November 8, 2019, Rousseau became the youngest party president in the country’s history at the age of 26.
Conner Rousseau took his first steps into real politics when he was still a law student at Ghent University, entering In the cabinet of Freya Van den Bossche, from John Crombez, the party president.
In May 2019, he collected more than 17,000 preference votesthanks in particular to a strong presence on social networks where he addresses his “matekes”, his “friends” in slang. On November 8, 2019, at the age of 26, he became the youngest party president in the country’s history.
He does not change his style however, continuing to wear his T-shirt and white tennis shoes, including to attend an audience at Laeken Castle. He stands out for his media omnipresence, not hesitating to participate in entertainment shows on television.
While assuming his responsibilities as party president, Rousseau continued his commitment to young people, devoting his summer vacation each year to a center for disadvantaged young people on the Belgian coast. He encouraged them to stick to work to improve their condition, not hesitating to put in their place those who behave like bosses.
Molenbeek
Rousseau’s rise intrigues Bart De Wever, the boss of the N-VA, who sees in him a potential partner for post-2024. The person concerned then responds to calls from the Flemish right with certain shock declarations, clearly intended to win back the electorate of the lower middle class tempted by the sirens of Vlaams Belang.
Last spring, the tide began to seriously turn for the man who called himself a “supersos” (supersocialist) with several complaints of sexual harassment.
This was particularly the case during a passage in the municipality of Molenbeek where he confides his “Feeling of no longer being in Belgium”. In the socialist ranks, some cried scandal, but without this having any real consequences for Rousseau. He also held challenging remarks towards women who suffer from addictions to whom he advised once morest becoming mothers.
Last spring, the tide began to seriously turn for the man who called himself a “supersos” (supersocialist) with several complaints of sexual harassment. Each time, they end with a classification without further action, but the person concerned must ward off more and more frequent and more and more personal attacks. Until that fatal evening that was a little too drunk in a café in Saint-Nicolas at the beginning of September…
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