(AFP) Weaving between market stalls in the working-class Brussels district of Molenbeek, Fouad Ahidar likes to remind voters he was a market vendor himself as a teenager — driving home his credentials as a people’s politician.
Something of a rising star on the Belgian left, the 50-year-old Ahidar is also a controversial figure, with a message overtly aimed at the Muslim vote that blends kitchen table issues with tough talk on Gaza or the right to wear the headscarf.
Elected two decades ago as a socialist lawmaker in Brussels, Ahidar broke ranks with his party to field his own campaign list in June regional elections — with his “Team Fouad Ahidar” clinching a surprise three parliament seats.
