As expected, Frédéric De Gucht has been elected the new leader of the Flemish liberal Open VLD party. He won the presidential election with 91% of the vote.
De Gucht succeeds Eva De Bleeker, who led the Flemish liberals for a year. He also follows in the footsteps of his father, Karel De Gucht, who led the party – which was then simply called VLD – from 1999 to 2004.
As the leader of the Brussels branch of the party, De Gucht gained prominence after the October 2024 elections through his role as negotiator in the formation of the Brussels Government.
After a coalition agreement was found between greens Groen, socialists Vooruit, Flemish nationalists N-VA and liberal Open VLD on the Flemish side of the Brussels Parliament, De Gucht insisted on N-VA's participation when the Francophone socialist PS vetoed the Flemish nationalists – leading to a deadlock that has still not been broken.
Meanwhile, De Gucht is once again participating in negotiations on a Brussels coalition agreement.
In July 2024, De Gucht had previously run for the national leadership of Open VLD. He finished in fourth place at the time, and Eva De Bleeker was elected instead.
However, De Bleeker resigned in August, after a turbulent period with internal doubts about her leadership. This criticism, which often anonymously found its way into newspaper articles, was further reinforced by poor polling.
"The renewal requires a tremendous amount of work, and I realise I cannot pull this off alone," De Bleeker said upon her departure.
De Gucht, who until this summer was CEO of the Liège-based glass manufacturer Sprimoglass, now faces the task of revitalising the party. The plan is to present a revised platform and a new party name by June.
