The Council for Election Disputes has dismissed an objection filed on 22 November, regarding the local elections in Ghent on 13 October.
The objection was considered insubstantial from the start, but since it was filed at the last minute – the deadline being 40 days after the election – the newly composed Ghent city council could not be installed in December.
The Council for Election Disputes can take up to 35 days to process complaints and seemed reluctant to dismiss them as inadmissible.
In this case, the complainant was a man who had not participated in the election. He alleged that several candidates violated criminal code provisions between December 2022 and May 2023. Consequently, he sought the suspension of the formation of the city council and executive board.
However, the Council said it lacked the authority to issue such a suspension and declared the objection inadmissible.
Critics argued that the objection should have been dismissed sooner.
Flemish Minister of Internal Affairs Hilde Crevits (Christen Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) had previously indicated that the Council for Election Disputes should be able to declare objections inadmissible more quickly.
In this case, that did not happen early, and a hearing was scheduled for Monday. The council published its findings on Thursday afternoon.
The installation meeting of the Ghent city council, originally scheduled for 5 December, was therefore postponed, and will now take place on 7 January.
The city also asked for a fine to be imposed on the objector for his “manifestly unjust appeal,” but the Council for Election Disputes did not address this request.
As a result of the proceedings, Ghent is currently governed by a coalition with the CD&V. However, the CD&V will not participate in the new coalition led by Mayor Mathias De Clercq, which includes the Socialist-Liberal City List and Groen.
De Clercq expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the procedure on Thursday but criticised the impact of the inadmissible objection. “As expected, the Council for Election Disputes deemed the complaint inadmissible,” he said. “It is unfortunate that this delayed the installation of the new city council by a month.”
De Clercq believes the new election decree should be adjusted to prevent similar situations. “We urge that the evaluation of the new election decree ensures that the objection filing, and admissibility assessment occur before the council’s installation,” he said.
