Open VLD pushes Brussels Member of Parliament Khadija Zamouri towards the exit

She no longer had a place on a liberal list, and now Open VLD has also started a disciplinary investigation against her. Brussels Member of Parliament Khadija Zamouri is pushed to the exit after her support for Viva Palestina, the list of Dyab Abou Jahjah.

It was already an ending story, but now Khadija Zamouri is also in danger of losing her Open VLD party card. The Liberals have started internal disciplinary proceedings against her because she flouted party guidelines in the Brussels Parliament.

The liberals cannot laugh that she helped Dyab Abou Jahjah obtain the necessary signatures to participate in the elections with his new party Viva Palestine. She ignored party chairman Tom Ongena’s call to withdraw that support.

On social media, Zamouri also speaks out strongly against Israel’s violence in Gaza, although according to a statement from the party, her views ‘do not correspond with those of Open VLD on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’. “We also oppose parties that want to import the conflict here for electoral reasons,” the statement added.

Furthermore, Open VLD distances itself from its action to help the PS in Brussels obtain the necessary signatures to postpone a vote in the Brussels Parliament on the Animal Welfare Codex. Although the codex has been agreed upon in the coalition agreement, the PS is opposed because it fears that a ban on slaughter without stunning could also be introduced when it is voted on. Open VLD emphasizes that it is still in favor of such a ban.

The internal disciplinary procedure could lead to Zamouri’s party card being revoked. Previously, it appeared that there was no longer any room for her on a list for the coming elections. This is the end of the story for Zamouri with the liberals, while she was still group leader of Open VLD in the Brussels Parliament between 2014 and 2019. She was not re-elected in 2019, but ended up succeeding Sven Gatz, when he became Budget Minister.