2023-09-28 16:10:00
Sometimes it’s better to remove a bandage right away than to let it rot. It is now a done deal: Schaerbeek no longer has a political majority. After Bernard Guillaume who announced his departure this Wednesday at the opening of the municipal council, it is now Emel Dogancan who is leaving the Mayor’s List. This departure definitively kills the Mayor’s List – Ecolo majority on an arithmetic level since, even if Michel De Herde was present as well as all the other advisors of the majority, it only has 23 seats out of 47.
In substance, however, this does not change much, the majority was already struggling to ensure a quorum, so much so that the acting mayor Cécile Jodogne (Défi) had summoned the leaders this Wednesday before the municipal council. During this exchange, it would have been concluded that the major projects remaining on the program would not be voted on: in a way, Schaerbeek was entering into current affairs, as is the term for the Federal government. A change in the balance of power of which we are already observing some consequences, since several motions proposed by the opposition were voted on this Wednesday evening at the municipal council. These include a motion requesting an external audit of the CPAS accounts which reveals a hole of 10 million euros, as well as a motion from the PTB aiming to return to two collections per week for Schaerbeek trash bins.
Jealousy and betrayal
As for the mayor’s office, we are not too bothered by this defection. “Emel Dogancan did not come to the municipal council”. “The announced departure of the alderwoman of Lorraine De Fierlant, scheduled for the beginning of January, will require her replacement as alderwoman of Commerce,” we read in a press release from the Jodogne cabinet. Emel Dogancan showed interest in this position, even though she was notable for her repeated absences from the municipal council, from the start of the legislature. Furthermore, Lorraine de Fierlant being elected under the banner of the Schaerbeek Liberals within the Mayor’s List, it is logical that it is an elected Schaerbeek Liberal who takes up the mandate of alderman. Ms. Dogancan was informed that she might therefore logically not obtain this position.” For her part, the resigner does not deny having asked questions regarding this new position. But according to her, this exchange has nothing to do with her desire elsewhere. “For two years, Défi has not stopped following Ecolo, if I have not come to the municipal council for more than a year, it is in particular because of this. Citizens come to me and tell me that this is not what they voted for.”
Contacted, the mayor’s office speaks not only of jealousy, but also of betrayal towards its voters. “All the people who are leaving have, however, agreed to campaign and come up in majority on the basis of a program. They obtained a mandate for this same program. In the end, they betray the voters.”
Emel Dogancan assures her, she will be a candidate in 2024. “On which list? I don’t know yet, I’m giving myself some time…”
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