Torhout is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Torhout proper, the villages of Wijnendale and Sint-Henricus, and the hamlet of De Driekoningen. On 29 February 2024 Torhout had a total population of 24,891. The total area is 45.23 km2 which gives a population density of 445 inhabitants per km2.
The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats is a Flemish liberal political party in Belgium. The party has been described as centre-right and has smaller factions within the party that have conservative liberal and social liberal views. The party is a member of the Liberal Group, Renew Europe, and Liberal International.
Yves Camille Désiré Leterme is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium from March 2008 to December 2008, and later from November 2009 to December 2011.
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.
A schepen or échevin or Schöffe is a municipal officer in Belgium and formerly the Netherlands, where it has been replaced by the wethouder.
Pascal Smet is a Belgian politician, member of Vooruit.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 10 June 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.
International Holocaust Cartoon Contest was a 2006 cartoon competition, sponsored by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri, to denounce what it called Western "double standards on freedom of speech". The event was staged in response to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. The United States State Department, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, among others, strongly criticized the contest.
Kris Peeters is a Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic and Flemish who served as vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his career, he was Minister-President of Flanders (2007–2014), deputy prime minister and minister of economy and employment in the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel (2014–2019), and a Member of the European Parliament (2019–2021).
Hilde Urbanie Julia Crevits is a Belgian politician from Flanders and member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party who is currently the Flemish minister of Economy, Innovation, Work, Social economy and Agriculture.
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.
Jan Jambon is a Belgian businessman and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who served as Minister-President of Flanders from 2019 to 2024. He replaced Kris Peeters as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2007. The N-VA was, at that time, partnered with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish party. In June 2010 and May 2014 he was re-elected on an N-VA list.
The Di Rupo Government was the federal cabinet of Belgium sworn in on 6 December 2011, after a record-breaking 541 days of negotiations following the June 2010 elections. The government included social democrats (sp.a/PS), Christian democrats (CD&V/cdH) and liberals, respectively of the Dutch and French language groups. The government notably excluded the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the Flemish nationalist party which achieved a plurality and became the largest party. Its absence, together with the unwillingness of Open Vld to enter into an eight-party coalition that included the green parties, caused the government coalition to lack a majority in the Dutch language group. It was the first time that the Belgian prime minister had been openly gay, as Di Rupo became the world's first male openly gay head of government. Elio Di Rupo also became the first native French-speaking prime minister since 1979 and the first prime minister from Wallonia since 1974 and first socialist prime minister since 1974.
Roger A. Windels is a Belgian, Flemish politician who served as the mayor of Torhout, senator and Flemish counsel member. He was also a teacher and founded schools.
The Belgian provincial, municipal and district elections of 2018 took place on Sunday 14 October 2018. They are organised by the respective regions:
The Peerdsbos is a forest and nature domain situated in the Belgian municipalities of Brasschaat and Schoten, to the north of the city of Antwerp. The domain largely consists of forests and directly borders the Vordenstein domain in Schoten to the south-east, and the Brasschaat municipal park to the northwest.
The 2019 Belgian regional elections took place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election as well as the Belgian federal election.
The Jambon Government (Regering-Jambon) was the Flemish Government formed and sworn in on 2 October 2019, following the 2019 Belgian regional elections and replacing the interim Homans Government. It was replaced by the Diependaele Government on 20 September 2024.
Dirk De fauw is a Belgian politician of the CD&V party. He is the son of Hilaire De fauw, a politician of the CVP who was municipal councilor of Sint-Andries, provincial councilor in West Flanders and deputy of the same province. Dirk De fauw studied law and is a lawyer.
The Diependaele Government (Regering-Diependaele) is the Flemish Government formed and sworn in on 30 September 2024, following the 2024 Belgian regional elections and replacing the Jambon Government.
