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The Minister-President of Flanders is the head of the Flemish Government, which is the executive branch of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community.
Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, commonly known as Open VLD or simply as the VLD, is a conservative-liberal Flemish political party in Belgium. The party was created in 1992 from the former Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV) and politicians from other parties. The party led the government for three cabinets under Guy Verhofstadt from 1999 until March 2008. Open VLD most recently formed the Federal Government with N-VA, CD&V and the Francophone Reformist Movement (MR).
The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium, founded in 2001. The N-VA is a regionalist, separatist movement that self-identifies with the promotion of civic nationalism. It is part of the Flemish Movement; the party strives for the peaceful and gradual secession of Flanders from Belgium. In recent years it has become the largest party of Flanders as well as of Belgium as a whole, and it participated in the 2014–18 Belgian Government until 9 December 2018.
The Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region, is the governing body of the Brussels-Capital Region, one of the three regions of Belgium. It is also known as the Brussels Regional Parliament.
The Belgian Federal Parliament is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. It sits in the Palace of the Nation. The Chamber of Representatives is the primary legislative body; the Senate functions only as a meeting place of the federal communities and regions.
The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parliament. Created in 1831 as a chamber fully equal to the Chamber of Representatives, it has undergone several reforms in the past, most notably in 1993 and the reform of 2014 following the sixth Belgian state reform. The 2014 elections were the first ones without a direct election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is completely composed of members of community and regional parliaments and co-opted members. It is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between the different language communities. The Senate now only plays a very minor role in the federal legislative process. Since the reform, it only holds about ten plenary sessions a year.
The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vilvoorde, which in turn coincides with the arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde. Halle-Vilvoorde contains several municipalities with language facilities, i.e. municipalities where French-speaking people form a considerable part of the population and therefore have special language rights.
Elections in Belgium are organised for legislative bodies only, and not for executive functions. Direct elections take place for the European Parliament, the bicameral Federal Parliament, the Parliaments of the Communities and Regions, the provincial councils, the municipal councils and a few district councils. Voting is mandatory and all elections use proportional representation which in general requires coalition governments.
The Flemish Government is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Parliament, and the public administration divided into 13 policy areas, each with an executive department and multiple agencies.
The Chamber of Representatives is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered to be the "lower house" of the Federal Parliament.
Geert Albert Bourgeois is a Belgian politician for the N-VA. Since 25 July 2014, he has been serving as the Minister-President of Flanders. He previously worked as a lawyer at the Kortrijk bar, and served as a member of the Belgian federal parliament for the Volksunie (1995-2001) and for the N-VA (2001-2004).
The Speaker of the Flemish Parliament is the presiding member of the Flemish Parliament, which is the legislature of Flanders (Belgium). The Speaker is elected at the beginning of each parliamentary year, on the fourth Monday in September. The Speaker chairs the plenary sessions of the Flemish Parliament and acts as its official representative. He or she determines whether a certain initiative is admissible and thus can be put to parliament at all. The Flemish Ministers take the oath before the Speaker of the Flemish Parliament. Only the head of the Flemish government, the Minister-President of Flanders, takes the oath before the King. The Speaker also presides over the Bureau and the Extended Bureau of the Flemish Parliament. He or she is assisted by four Deputy Speakers.
Steven Vanackere, is a Belgian politician from Flanders and member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He held the portfolios of Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Institutional Reform in the Leterme II government. He is the son of Leo Vanackere, who, following a political career as a Member of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate of Belgium, became the Provincial Governor of West-Flanders in 1979. His grandfather, Remi Wallays, had also been a senator and had been a former Mayor of Wevelgem.
The government of the Brussels-Capital Region is the political administration of the Brussels region of Belgium. An election is held every five years. The government is headed by a Minister-President, four ministers and three state secretaries.
The Pirate Party of Belgium is a political party in Belgium. Based on the model of the Swedish Pirate Party, it supports reform of copyright law, the abolition of patents, and respect for privacy. It was a founding member of Pirate Parties International.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.
