Borsbeek plebiscite on merger with Antwerp will take place on September 24, action committee wants earlier date (Antwerp)
Burgers voor Borsbeek will hand over its signatures on Monday to request a plebiscite on the merger with Antwerp to mayor Dis Van Berckelaer. It immediately records a fixed data.
Philip Spoolers
With a procession from the square at the water tower to the town hall of Borsbeek, the action committee, which opposes the merger with Antwerp, will hand over its collected signatures to the municipal council on Monday.
It ended up being 3,219, much more than the 2,400. “With this we have provided a wide margin to request the plebiscite,” says Jos Spaepen of Burgers for Borsbeek. “According to our lawyer, the municipality now has a month as a certain period to check and count the signatures.”
But mayor Dis Van Berckelaer (Iedereen Borsbeek) does not seem to wait that long to clarify the plebiscite. Last month he indicated that a possible plebiscite could take place in September or October 2023.
Over 16 years
“The plebiscite will take place on Sunday, September 24, 2023. Borsbeken residents from 16 years old will be announced to come to the polls between 9 and 1 pm. It’s a lot of work to check the signature and we’re not going to do that. Citizens for Borsbeek has actually done a lot of work that we are going for the plebiscite,” Van Berckelaer confirmed.
Another quick decision of the mayor under his alderman of communications and civil affairs, Ken Casier (N-VA), was not aware. “This is the first thing I have taken over. We have chosen this period well for a possible referendum. Whether this is in September or October, it does not matter in itself. But normally the signature has to be checked first.”
Too late
Jos Spaepen is not immediately satisfied with the date. “The mayor speaks out of turn. After one month for the check, the next provisional deadline to keep the plebiscite is five to six months. So this is not September next year, but sooner.”
The municipal council sees September as a good time so that the first residents cannot yet receive extensive information. The question that will be presented has not yet been determined.