Mohamed Ridouani

Mohamed Ridouani (born 24 June 1979) is a Belgian politician. He belongs to Vooruit, a socialist party. He has been mayor of of Leuven since January 2019, and he is reelected with more popular votes in October 2024.
Biography
He attended secondary school at the Royal Atheneum Redingenhof in Leuven, where he obtained the diploma in 1997 in Economics-Mathematics. He graduated from KU Leuven, and later also obtained a postgraduate degree in international relations.
In 2007, Ridouani jumped into politics. He stood as a candidate on the sp.a-Spirit (which is subsequently converted to Vooruit) list. He was elected as a member of the municipal committee and eventually became alderman in Leuven.
In the 2012 municipal elections, he was re-elected to the Leuven municipal council, and he again became alderman. The incumbent mayor of Leuven Louis Tobback decided not to carry on the job after the termination of his term that ended in 2018, Ridouani was tipped to replace him. Thus, The Flemish socialist takes over from Louis Tobback, who served as mayor of Leuven for 24 years.
In the elections of 14 October 2018, his party obtained 25.9 percent of the votes being a largest party in the municipality. He formed a coalition with Groen and CD&V, and Ridouani was nominated as mayor. The election of 13 October 2024 strengthen his position as mayor as his party Vooruit became historical winner with 47.7 percentage support of the voters.
He's the inspirer of Leuven 2030, in which more than 300 companies, organizations and citizens are united to turn Leuven into a sustainable and CO2-neutral city by the year 2030. Ridouani also initiated Leuven MindGate, an economic platform with 400 members that will boost Leuven as the world's hotspot for health, technology and creativity.
In the 2024 Belgian federal election he was elected to the Flemish Parliament.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu