Sammy Mahdi
 | This article needs to be updated. (September 2022) |
Sammy Mahdi | |
|---|---|
_A_(cropped).jpg) Mahdi in 2022 | |
| Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration | |
| In office 1 October 2020 – 27 June 2022 | |
| Monarch | Philippe |
| Prime Minister | Alexander De Croo |
| Preceded by | Maggie De Block |
| Succeeded by | Nicole de Moor |
| Member of the Chamber of Representatives | |
| In office 17 March 2020 – 1 October 2020 | |
| Constituency | Flemish Brabant |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 September 1988 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium |
| Political party | CD&V |
| Alma mater | Vrije Universiteit Brussel |
| Occupation | Politician |
Sammy Mahdi (born 21 September 1988) is a Belgian Christian-Democrat politician, a member and the president of CD&V, who in March 2020 became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
On 1 October 2020, Mahdi became Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration in the new government led by Alexander De Croo. In June 2022, he became the president of the CD&V party.
Life
[edit]Mahdi was born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an Iraqi refugee father and a Flemish mother.[1] He studied political science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and later obtained a master's degree in international and European law. From 2014 to 2017, he worked as a parliamentary assistant to Flemish Member of Parliament Joris Poschet. Since 2016, he has also contributed as a regular columnist for the newspaper De Morgen.
Mahdi became active in politics at an early stage. He served as a board member of Jong CD&V from 2015 and was elected chair of the youth section in 2017, a position to which he was re-elected in 2019.[2][3] Between 2015 and 2017, he was chairman of the CD&V section in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. After moving to Vilvoorde in 2017,[4] he joined the local CD&V board. Since January 2019, he has been a municipal councillor in Vilvoorde, where he also chairs the CD&V faction on the city council.
In October 2019, Mahdi contested the leadership of CD&V following the resignation of Wouter Beke.[5] The race narrowed to Mahdi and Joachim Coens, with Coens ultimately winning the final round due to broader support in West Flanders and among older party members.[6]
Mahdi was elected as a reserve member of the Chamber of Representatives for the Flemish Brabant constituency in the 2019 Belgian federal election. In March 2020, he took his seat in parliament after Koen Geens joined the Wilmès II Government.[7] Upon assuming his parliamentary role, Mahdi stepped down as chair of Jong CD&V.
On 1 October 2020, Mahdi was appointed Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration in the government of Alexander De Croo.[8] He stated that his policy would focus on increasing deportations of asylum seekers without legal grounds to remain in Belgium.[9] In August 2021, during the Taliban’s rapid advance and shortly before the fall of Kabul, Mahdi rejected calls from the Afghan government, the European Union, and Amnesty International to impose a moratorium on deportations to Afghanistan, citing his commitment to Belgium’s existing migration policy despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation.[10]
In November 2021, four representatives of the hunger strikers of the Béguinage Church accused Mahdi of "unprecedented betrayal." The accusation came after the Belgian authorities rejected the requests for residence permits filed by hunger strikers. The strikers had halted their two-months long hunger strike in July 2021 after representatives of Mahdi promised them that their individual files will be accepted for regularization. Mahdi defended himself against the accusation by referring to his past objections to group amnesties for undocumented workers.[11]
In May 2022, following an early election due to a significant drop in the party's standing in the polls, he ran again for the presidency of the CD&V. He was then the only candidate. In June 2022, with 97%, he became president of the party.[12][13]
In September 2023, he competed on Belgium Drag Queen TV show Make Up Your Mind (Belgium) Season 1, which he came first.
In the 2024 Belgian federal election, he was elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
References
[edit]- ^ Fiche Sammy Mahdi on the website of CD&V Vilvoorde.
- ^ "Sammy Mahdi is nieuwe voorzitter Jong CD&V". Bruzz (in Dutch). 11 March 2017.
- ^ "Sammy Mahdi herverkozen als voorzitter van Jong CD&V". Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). 17 November 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ Peeters, Tine (19 May 2017). "Voorzitter Jong CD&V verhuist van Molenbeek naar Vilvoorde". De Morgen (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ "Nieuwe voorzitter CD&V wordt havenbaas Joachim Coens of jongerenvoorzitter Sammy Mahdi". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 18 November 2019.
- ^ "West-Vlamingen en senioren kroonden Coens tot voorzitter CD&V". Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 17 December 2019.
- ^ Yves Lambrix; Liliana Casagrande (17 March 2020). "Coronaregering-Wilmès II van start: "Ik ben vastberadener dan ooit"". Het Belang van Limburg (in Dutch).
- ^ "Overzicht: wie is wie in regering-De Croo?". Knack (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ "Son of Iraq refugee takes office as migration and asylum minister in Belgium". Middle East Monitor. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^ Armstrong, Mark (10 August 2021). "Six EU countries call for forced return of Afghans to continue". Euronews.
- ^ Walker, Lauren (2 November 2021). "'We were deceived': Hunger strikers accuse government of betrayal". The Brussels Times. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
- ^ Van Fleteren, Dario (25 June 2022). "Sammy Mahdi nu officieel voorzitter van CD&V". De Standaard (in Flemish). Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ^ "Sammy Mahdi is the new leader of the Flemish Christian democrats". VRTNWS. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.