Anke Maria Flor Van dermeersch (born 27 October 1972) is a Belgian politician, former model and

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

titleholder who was crowned

Miss Belgium Miss Belgium is a national beauty pageant in Belgium. The winner of Miss Belgium automatically represents her country at the Miss World and Miss Universe pageants if the dates do not overlap. History Queen of the Beach The first contest looking ...

1991. She has later been a politician for the

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

party, being elected as a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

in 2003.

Pageantry and law

Anke Van dermeersch rose to attention in Belgium during a modelling career, becoming

in 1991. She represented her country at Miss Universe 1992 where she placed Top 6. She thereafter completed a law degree and became a lawyer before eventually entering politics.

Political career

Van dermeersch became a directly elected Belgian senator in 2003 for the far-right party

Vlaams Blok Vlaams Blok (, VB; ) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. The part ...

, which was succeeded by Vlaams Belang in 2004. Since 2019, she has been a member of the

Flemish parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...

. She has also been the leader of a

counter-jihad Counter-jihad (also known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...

group called Women Against Islamization.

Notes

1972 births 21st-century Belgian lawyers 21st-century Belgian women politicians 21st-century women lawyers Beauty queen-politicians Belgian beauty pageant winners Belgian female models Belgian women lawyers Counter-jihad activists Living people Members of the Flemish Parliament Members of the Senate (Belgium) Miss Belgium winners Miss Universe 1992 contestants Miss World 1991 delegates Models from Antwerp Politicians from Antwerp Vlaams Belang politicians {{Flanders-politician-stub