Lachaert Quits Anders, Cites ‘Hardest Decision’
Belgian liberal politician Egbert Lachaert announced on Sunday evening that he is leaving the Anders party and will sit as an independent member of the Flemish Parliament, capping a bitter internal conflict that has shaken the Flemish liberals. The former party chairman, who served as leader of Open VLD from 2020 to 2023, described the move as one of the hardest decisions of his political career.
“From this week I no longer sit for Anders, but as an independent MP in the Flemish Parliament,” Lachaert wrote in a Facebook post, as reported by VRT NWS. “After 13 years of service as an elected official, and as many years before that as a militant and volunteer, this is absolutely not an easy decision.”
The announcement came at 22:36 on Sunday, 20 September. Lachaert will retain his seat in the Flemish Parliament and continue as mayor of Merelbeke-Melle in East Flanders.
Context
Anders is the party formerly known as Open VLD, the Flemish liberal party, which rebranded to distance itself from the “Vivaldi” seven-party federal coalition that governed Belgium from 2020 to 2024. Lachaert led that party through a turbulent period before handing over the chairmanship.
The current rupture traces back roughly 1.5 weeks before Sunday’s announcement, when Lachaert abruptly resigned as the party’s parliamentary group leader (fractieleider) in the Flemish Parliament. He was replaced by Stephanie D’Hose. Lachaert reportedly sent his resignation via WhatsApp after learning that party leadership was planning to replace him.
The Leak That Broke the Trust
Anders chairman Frédéric De Gucht admitted that he himself leaked news of Lachaert’s pending resignation to the press. According to Business AM, De Gucht conceded that the situation was mishandled and acknowledged it could have been handled with “more empathy and humanity,” while insisting he had not forced Lachaert out.
Lachaert’s frustration was evident in his farewell message. “It hurt to read certain things in the newspapers that came from my own party, but it is better to hold on to the good memories and friendships,” he wrote. He added that “relationship breakdowns are rarely a pretty show to watch, and audiences quickly tire of ex-partners proving themselves right.”
Lachaert said his reasons were “substantive, organisational and above all human,” and that “a number of events in recent weeks were the proverbial drop that made the bucket overflow.” He concluded that “the freedom of an independent MP will give me much more room to voice the concerns of my voters.”
Internal Tensions and a Precedent
The conflict has exposed deeper rifts within Anders. Party leadership had reportedly considered replacing both Lachaert and Alexia Bertrand with new figures to distance the party from the Vivaldi era. Bertrand rejected the suggestion of her own replacement, saying the chairman had confirmed her role in the upcoming budget talks.
VRT NWS political journalist Ivan De Vadder, in a companion analysis, framed the departure as “the chronicle of an announced exit” and pointed to a recurring pattern of right-leaning figures leaving the Flemish liberals — naming Ward Beysen, Jean-Marie Dedecker, Hugo Coveliers, Leo Govaerts and Maurits Vande Reyde, all of whom went on to stand on their own.
De Vadder argued that Lachaert, as a former party chairman, is “steeped and seasoned” but “sits in the wrong parliament”: his profile is clearly socioeconomic, which belongs in the federal parliament. Lachaert ended up in the Flemish Parliament, which is dominated by welfare and education themes, because no electable spot was available on the federal list. Both Lachaert and De Gucht share a socioeconomic right-wing profile, De Vadder noted, yet they failed to find common ground — pointing again to the “human” element.
Analysis
The departure is a blow to a party still trying to define itself after the Vivaldi years. Anders and Groen are stagnating in Flemish polling, and the loss of a former chairman — especially one framing his exit in deeply personal terms — hands critics fresh evidence of internal dysfunction.
The timing compounds the difficulty. Anders is due to hold its “Festival of Ideas” in Bruges the coming Saturday, an event intended to showcase the party’s vision. Former Flemish vice-minister-president Dirk Van Mechelen (Anders) reacted sharply, calling Lachaert’s decision “incomprehensible,” and drawing a pointed comparison to Durf, the movement associated with another former Anders departure.
The move also lands amid an exceptionally charged national moment. Belgium’s federal “Arizona” coalition under Prime Minister Bart De Wever is negotiating a difficult budget to close a roughly €10 billion gap, and a separate debate over state reform is roiling politics. In that environment, internal liberal turmoil draws outsized attention.
What’s Next
Lachaert says he intends to devote the remaining three years of his mandate, as an independent, to the themes he considers important, describing his liberalism as “ardently present.” For Anders, the immediate test is whether the Festival of Ideas can project unity — or whether this departure becomes another name on the list of Flemish liberals who chose to go it alone.
As De Vadder put it, it is up to the party to explain more. For now, both sides are saying little, and the audience — Belgian voters — may quickly tire of the dispute.