Vincent Van Quickenborne and Jasper Pillen are the leaders of the Open Vld party in West Flanders

Pillen sat in the Chamber until Van Quickenborne resigned on October 20 in the aftermath of the attack in Brussels and took his seat again. Shortly afterwards, the party’s vice-chairman announced that he would run for the Flemish list leadership position “with full enthusiasm”.

“Security, Freedom and Entrepreneurship: the core values ​​of our liberal story. I want to consistently defend and strengthen it. As party leader, I will fully fight for this,” Pillen said in a press release.

Van Quickenborne draws the parliamentary list. “Over the last three years we have managed to turn around the tanker of Justice. But the work is not finished,” he says. “Liberals must formulate their ideas more clearly: economically right-wing and ethically progressive. We must defend our freedoms against the extremists. Brussels needs a healthy portion of West Flemish doer mentality.”

National chairman Tom Ongena says he has “once again opted for a combination of innovation and experience”. “Jasper has shown himself to be a strong Member of Parliament, with deep file knowledge, including on Defense. He was also able to leave his liberal mark as an alderman in Bruges. We have tons of experience with Vincent. Someone who has turned the tanker on Justice in recent years and has implemented important liberal reforms.”