decided they preferred the cartel with CD&V over Dedecker; afterwards Dedecker resigned from the party he joined only ten days earlier. Belgian cycling doping affair In September 2006, Dedecker told the press that he had the names of three Belgian cyclists, who went to Italy for illegal doping treatments. In January 2007, Belgian cyclist Johan Museeuw admitted that he took stimulants during the last years of his cycling career, and that he confided this earlier to Dedecker. The newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws claimed on the basis of various accounts of people close to Quick Step-Innergetic manager Patrick Lefevere, that Lefevere has pushed cyclists to use illegal stimulants. Lefevere is now suing Dedecker for €75,000 over his earlier allegations about doping use among Belgian cyclists. The information Dedecker gave in September 2006 led to house searches throughout Belgium in June 2007 of persons related to cycling. The judiciary found various illegal substances during the search. LDD On 3 January 2007, Dedecker announced that he would set up a new political party. On 4 January 2007, Dedecker explained his plans by stating that he wanted to be the Flemish party political equivalent of Geert Wilders and Pim Fortuyn. He called his project a healthy right-wing political formation. On 6 January, a preparatory meeting was held in Ostend with some sympathizers, including Boudewijn Bouckaert (ex-VLD), former mayor of Ledegem Paul Vanhie, Walter Govaert, former alderman of Keerbergen John Lambrechts (also ex-VLD) and Saïd Bouharrak, a consultant of Belgian- Moroccan descent. Dedecker officially presented his new party on 19 January 2007. In the 2007 Belgian federal election, he was elected to the House of Representatives for his new party. In October 2009 he published the book Headscarf or Blindfold in which he criticized mass migration and advance of Islam in Europe. Following the 2010 Belgian federal election, Dedecker resigned as leader of the LDD and stepped down from national politics. Return to politics On 14 October 2018, Dedecker was elected as mayor of Middelkerke. In the 2019 Belgian federal election, he stood for the West Flanders constituency as an independent candidate affiliated to the N-VA's list. He was elected with 40,781 preferential votes and sat as an independent in the Chamber of Representatives. In October 2020, Dedecker stated in an interview that he will resign from parliament as he wanted to give priority to his mayorship. References External links Official site (in Dutch) Artsite