Christian Democrats scrap candidate after he is linked to drug trafficking
The local branch of the Flemish Christian Democrat Party (CD&V) in the Antwerp district of Ekeren has scrapped one of its candidates from the list for the forthcoming district council elections. The man is allegedly linked to the trade in illegal drugs.
Rediart Cankja (photo above, left) was the 10th-placed candidate on CD&V’s list for the district council elections. According to an article in Monday morning’s edition of the daily Gazet van Antwerp Mr Cankja was detained by police in France last week. 3 kg of heroine were allegedly found in the car in which he was travelling in. Although the French Judicial Authorities have yet to confirm that Mr Cankja was picked up by police in connection with drug offences, his party has decided to remove him from its list.
Mr Cankja is also a candidate for a seat on Antwerp City Council. There the party first waited for confirmation before deciding what to do with Mr Cankja. As soon as confirmation came Mr Peeters announced that Mr Cankja would be removed from the city council list too.
Speaking on VRT Radio 2 Antwerp’s ‘Start je dag’, the man heading CD&V’s list for Antwerp City Council, the Federal Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters said “I can assure you that this is a blow, certainly if it concerns drugs”.