Steven Van Linthout is not running for mayor: “The past six years have asked for a lot” (Liedekerke)

Striking: Steven Van Linthout (50) has announced that he will no longer be a party leader in the upcoming municipal elections. He will be on the list of candidates as a list pusher. Team Liedekerke, the joint list of CD&V and Open Vld, places Rita Triest, Joris Poppe and Rani Arys at the top.

“My family, relatives and friends deserved more of my time in the coming years,” Van Linthout explains. “My six-year mayoralty required a lot of resilience and perseverance. Not only from myself, but also from my family, relatives and friends. That also required a lot of sacrifices from them. The past legislature was particularly tough, including an energy crisis and a refugee crisis. But the corona pandemic should also not be forgotten, which put everyone’s daily lives and therefore also the organization of the municipality to the test. After all, as mayor you have to be ready for the population 24 hours a day.”

With these reasons in mind, Van Linthout decides to run as a list pusher for the upcoming municipal elections on October 13. Earlier, majority parties CD&V and Open Vld announced that they would go to voters together under the name Team Liedekerke. Vooruit, the other majority party, does not participate in this project. “With Rita Triest (68), Joris Poppe (42) and Rani Arys (28), we have a talented trio of party leaders that combines tons of experience with innovative ideas and youthful enthusiasm,” it said.

Involved citizens

“The fact that I am becoming a list pusher will not prevent me from fully dedicating myself to Liedekerke in the coming years,” says Van Linthout. “After all, I helped set up the Team Liedekerke project and I strongly believe in the constructive management style that this team strives for. But I consciously and with conviction choose to support this unique Liedekerk team as a list pusher.”

“We will focus on a positive and realistic policy,” says Team Liedekerke. “Our list will also include new and committed citizens who want to fully commit themselves to our beautiful village and its inhabitants. We cordially invite anyone who would like to work together on a positive and realistic policy to contact us.”

2008

Steven Van Linthout has been a municipal councilor in Liedekerke since 2008. He became alderman in 2013 and succeeded Luc Wynant as mayor of Liedekerke in 2019. Van Linthout obtained 1,030 preferential votes in the last elections. Rani Arys has been a municipal councilor for CD&V since 2019 after she received 555 votes in the 2018 elections and became the youngest CD&V councilor in Flemish Brabant in 2022. Rita Triest, also CD&V, became a municipal councilor in 2013 and after the 2018 elections (where she received 684 votes) an alderman in the municipality. Finally, Open VLD member Joris Poppe has been alderman in the municipality since 2021. Poppe took part in the Liedekerk municipal elections for the first time in 2012. He then emerged as party leader for Open Vld in 2018 and received 280 votes.