Willebroek (Brussels Morning Newspaper) -A new municipal council in Willebroek has also been set up; Karim Hassoun plans to file a complaint against Mayor Bevers for slander and defamation.
Willebroek has recently signed its municipal government agreement, and it has also been the last municipality in the Flanders to do so; seats of the municipal council members, including the mayor and aldermen of Willebroek, have lately sworn their corresponding oaths.
Karim Hassoun, expelled from Iedereen 2830, plans to file a slander and defamation complaint against Willebroek’s Mayor Eddy Bevers following the municipal council’s oath-taking. This controversy is drawn during the formation of the coalition between NVA and Iedereen 2830 in the region of Willebroek. This decision was made between the political party of the N-VA and the Iedereen 2830, where Hassoun was expelled from his party. More recently, in the middle of this roller-coaster turn, Hassoun vowed to sue Bevers and other municipal councillors for slander and defamation for alleged comments made against him. The administrative agreement between N-VA and Iedereen 2830 was signed last Wednesday in order to begin forming a coalition after a long deliberation. It would be marked by internal conflicts, which resulted in the exclusion of Karim Hassoun, an independent municipal councillor. On an occasion at a council meeting, Hassoun complained about being dropped from the party and noted that he took a lawsuit for the sake of honour and dignity.
To be specific, he said,
“I would have preferred to remain with the Iedereen 2830 group, but they released me.”
I am doing this for my integrity and self-respect and because of the fact that punishable things have been said and written about me.”Despite the controversy surrounding the coalition formation, N-VA’s Serkan Bozyigit remains optimistic about the new team, highlighting their experience and commitment to serving the community. As N-VA bases itself on having three Aldermen, as Iedereen 2830 also has, Mayor Eddy Bevers remains in his position as the council advances under these circumstances.
Political landscape in Willebroek
Political uncertainty has become the watchword for Willebroek after a series of political events took place in the last few months. The prolonged time taken to ratify the ruling agreement led to ambiguities within the government option, where discourses on the efficiency and governance of the use of the system emerged. The recent changes are in line with the general trend in Belgian politics, where the formation of the government coalition entails disputes among various parties.
The expulsion of Karim Hassoun from Iedereen 2830 makes people think about an internal struggle within political parties and defection within factions. The man’s action demonstrates that there are pending cases of slander and defamation in South Kazakhstan province’s local politics, where reputations are weakened and easily dragged on the ground due to cutthroat competition, especially for power and prominence. The accusations levelled against him are sufficient enough to land him in court, which will be a signal that the political playing field in Willebroek is becoming heated up.
Further, it brings out the issues that local governments have in preserving unity as well as meeting the essential needs of the people. While Willebroek continues to work through the complexities of a new coalition, it also needs to manage citizens’ trust in ‘clean’ politics and its elected representatives. The consequences of Hassoun’s complaint could, therefore, not only be conceived for all the individuals implicated in the situation but also for how other political controversies concerning the municipality will be dealt with in the future.
Willebroek is now proceeding with business as usual, and with the new council members just sworn in, how the above events will evolve will remain to be seen in the forthcoming months. The people will be closely observing their political representatives grappling with vital neighbourhood matters and internal coalition manoeuvring, all under a single umbrella of electoral misconduct accusations capable of eroding community faith.
