The politics of Belgium take place in the framework of a federal, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. The King of the Belgians is the head of state, and the prime minister of Belgium is the head of government, in a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. The federation is made up of (language-based) communities and (territorial) regions. Philippe is the seventh and current King of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013.
Marc Maria Frans, Viscount Eyskens, known as Mark Eyskens, is a Belgian economist, professor and politician in the Christian People's Party, now called Christian Democratic and Flemish, and briefly served as the prime minister of Belgium in 1981.
Sir Lester Bryant Bird was an Antiguan politician and athlete who served as the second prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda from 1994 to 2004. He was chairman of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) from 1971 to 1983, then became prime minister when his father, Sir Vere Bird, the previous prime minister, resigned.
Frank Ignace Georgette Vandenbroucke is a Belgian-Flemish academic and politician of Vooruit who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo since 2020.
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.
Steve Stevaert was a Belgian politician of the Flemish Socialist Party: the SP.A.
Jim Higgins is an Irish former Fine Gael politician. He served as a member of Seanad Éireann, Dáil Éireann, and was a European People's Party Member of the European Parliament for the North-West constituency from 2004 to 2014.
Nicol Ross Stephen, Baron Stephen is a Scottish politician who served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, he was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Aberdeen South from 1999 to 2011, and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008.
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.
Laurette A. J. Onkelinx is a Belgian politician from the Francophone Socialist Party. She was the Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health in the Belgian federal government, i.e., the Di Rupo Government, which took office on 6 December 2011.
Geert Albert Bourgeois is a Belgian politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which he founded in 2001, who is currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He previously served as the Minister-President of Flanders from 2014 to 2019. Prior to this, he was a member of the federal Chamber of Representatives for the People's Union from 1995 to 2001, and then for the N-VA from 2001 to 2004. He has been involved in local and regional politics in Flanders since 1976.
Bert Jozef Herman Vic Anciaux is a Belgian politician and Vooruit faction leader in the Belgian Senate. He was one of the founders of Spirit. Served as Minister for Culture, Youth and Sport in the Flemish Government from 2004 until 2009, he was also Minister for relations with the Brussels-Capital Region and the Brussels Parliament.
Kathleen Van Brempt, is a Belgian social-democratic politician and member of Vooruit. She currently serves as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) as part of the Party of European Socialists and is leader of the local branch of her party in Antwerp.
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.
Kenneth Christian Skates is a Welsh Labour politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales since March 2024. Skates has represented the constituency of Clwyd South in the Senedd since the election of 2011. He is an alumnus of the University of Cambridge, and worked as a journalist prior to becoming a politician. In September 2014 he became the deputy minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport. From May 2016 to December 2018 he was the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Infrastructure and Skills, and was the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales until he stood down on 13 May 2021. He held Economy, Transport and North Wales position again between July and September 2024 when he assumed the economy portfolio.
The Verhofstadt II Government was the federal government of Belgium from 12 July 2003 to 21 December 2007.
Johan Sauwens is a Belgian politician from the province of Limburg.
West Flanders is one of the 11 multi-member constituencies of the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the Belgian Federal Parliament, the national legislature of Belgium. The constituency was established in 2003 following the re-organisation of constituencies across Belgium along provincial lines. It is conterminous with the province of West Flanders. The constituency currently elects 16 of the 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system. At the 2019 federal election the constituency had 942,783 registered electors.
