Raoul Hedebouw
Lecturer
In December 2021, Raoul Hedebouw was elected as the new chairman of PVDA. A very large majority of the 883 delegates present at the PVDA Unity Congress chose him as the successor to Peter Mertens. Thus, he became the captain of a ship with more than 25,000 members. The challenge is great, with the priority being the unity of the country, the working class, and the youth.
Raoul comes from a militant family. His father was a steelworker and a dedicated union activist. The same goes for his mother, who fought fiercely in the company where she worked. In 1996, Raoul was already at the head of the CHE (Student Committee of Herstal) and led schoolchildren's strikes against the reforms of the Minister of Education, Laurette Onkelinx (PS).
His journey then brought him to the head of the Liège branch of the PVDA. A few years later, he became the national spokesperson for the party. He has been a municipal councilor in Liège since 2012 and a federal representative since 2014.
Raoul is trained as a biologist and is an avid ornithologist. But he is also a 'social animal': if you are in Liège, you can certainly encounter him on the terrace of a café or in a restaurant, surrounded by a few friends - if he is not working, of course!
