Tom Ongena was elected president of the Open VLD by winning 59% of the votes cast by activists on Saturday. He had already been acting leader since Egbert Lachaert announced his departure.
Ongena won in the first round of voting with 59% of the vote, ahead of theatre producer Vincent Stuer (29%) and Bert Schelfhout, former youth president (11%). Ongena's term will run until the municipal elections in October 2024.
"We have nine months to get back on our feet", said Ongena in his victory speech. "The enemy is not in this room. The enemy is outside."
After a turbulent start, marked by heated discussions on the procedure, the Flemish liberals were finally able to appoint a successor to Egbert Lachaert on Saturday. Lachaert, who unexpectedly resigned as party chairman at the end of June, was not present on Saturday.
After the 700 or so members of the Congress present on Saturday gave the go-ahead for a one-off derogation from the party statutes (and therefore electing a temporary leader until the municipal elections in October 2024), interim president Tom Ongena was already the designated winner.
'Enemies of progress'
In his victory speech, Mr Ongena thanked his opponents for the "fierce but fair" conduct of the election. Aged 48, Ongena is aware that the challenges facing his party are huge. With nine months to go before the European, regional and federal elections, "the stakes are enormous", he admits.
"For our party, but also for our country, for our society, for our future", he added. Ongena wants to use these nine months "to put us back on our feet".
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Vincent Stuer and Open VLD's newly elected leader Tom Ongena. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
Tom Ongena recognises that people are asking legitimate questions and feeling "uneasy", but the answer to these questions cannot come from "extremists". In his view, collaboration with the far-left or the far-right is out of the question. "We liberals will never cooperate with extremists. Fascism, racism and communism are irreconcilable with liberalism", he said.
The president elected "reinvigorate" the party in the weeks to "engage once again in the tradition of a party of ideas". Ongena also called on party members tom put aside internal differences. "The enemy is not in this room. The enemy is outside. The enemies of freedom. The enemies of progress", said Tom Ongena.
At the same time as the Open VLD leadership result was announced, MP Els Ampe announced her resignation from the party, describing the voting method as undemocratic and criticising Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who is a member of Open VLD.
"This is simply a bad circus. Another slap in the face to the grassroots of the Open VLD'," she said in a statement. "It's not right that the Prime Minister should send a puppet to party headquarters to play caretaker. The party statutes are not a piece of paper." She will sit as an independent in the Flemish Parliament.
