Vilvoorde (The Brussels Morning Newspaper): Assita Kanko an N-VA MEP choose not to become mayor of Vilvoorde despite potentially receiving more votes than the list leader to focus on her European Parliament work and family as a single mother.
Assita Kanko a member of the European Parliament for N-VA moved from Elsene to Vilvoorde a few years back. Even though she was already an MEP at the time she got re-elected in the European elections showing her dedication to her role in the European Parliament. Kanko choose not to take on extra roles like being a mayor or joining the municipal council. She thinks handling these along with her job as an MEP would be too much and might affect how well she can do her MEP duties.
Why did Assita Kanko choose family over Vilvoorde Mayoral role?
The politician even if she could get more votes than the leader of the list has choosen not to become the mayor. She’s a single mom and feels that being there for her daughter is important. Juggling being a mayor with taking care of her family would be tough so she wants to focus on spending quality time with her daughter.
She’s really focused on dealing with big issues in Europe like safety, violence against women, drug policies and crime. These topics are important to her work, and she thinks becoming a mayor might make it hard for her to keep working on these important things effectively. By deciding not to go for the mayor job she wants to be straightforward with voters about how she can handle both her public and personal duties.
Even if she got more votes than the list leader in an election Kanko said she wouldn’t become the mayor. She says being a single mom needs a lot of time and focus. Being a mayor would take away time she wants to spend with her daughter which is really important to her. She thinks being a mayor might make it hard for her to keep working on these important things well. By deciding not to go for the mayor job,she wants to show voters that she can handle both her work and personal life and be honest about it.
Jan Anciaux will be the main candidate for the N-VA list in Vilvoorde with Kanko supporting the party list from the bottom position known as the list pusher. Even though she’s at the bottom Kanko backs the party’s goals. She has said she won’t be the mayor even if she gets more votes than Anciaux. She wants to balance being a single mom with her work on important European issues.
