Brent C. M. Meuleman (born 17 March 1988) is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of

Vooruit Vooruit ( , ) is a historic complex in Ghent, Belgium. Vooruit was originally the festival and art centre of the Ghent-based labour movement, with a ballroom, cinema, theatre, etc. It is now mainly used for concerts and other cultural events ...

, he has represented

East Flanders East Flanders ( ; ; ; ) is a Provinces of Belgium, province of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the North) the Netherlands, Dutch province of Zeeland and the Belgian provinces of Antwerp (province), Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut (provinc ...

since June 2024. Meuleman was born on 17 March 1988 in

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. He is the son of Dirk Meuleman, a labourer at Sidmar, and Vera Herry, a childcare worker at a OCMW crèche. He was educated in

Zelzate Zelzate () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality only comprises the town of Zelzate proper. In 2021, Zelzate had a total population of 13,124. The total area is 13.71 km2. Zelzate is divided in ...

and obtained a teaching diploma at the Ledeganck campus of the

Hogeschool Gent HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts (University College Ghent, ), often shortened to just HOGENT, is the largest university college in Flanders, with seven faculties, one School of Arts and over 17,000 students as of 2022. Meuleman worked as a communications officer for the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

in Zelzate between 2009 and 2010. He was a worker at the BP

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

at the

Port of Ghent The Port of Ghent is the third busiest port, seaport in Belgium, located in Ghent, East Flanders in the Flemish Region. The first port of Ghent was situated at the river Scheldt and later on at the Lys (river), Leie. Since the Middle Ages Ghent h ...

. He then taught

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

at the . Meuleman was elected to the municipal council in Zelzate at the 2012 local election. He was re-elected at the 2018 local election. After the election the

Socialist Party Different Vooruit (, Dutch for Forward) is a Flemish social democratic political party in Belgium. It was formerly known as the (Flemish) Socialist Party (1978–2001: ''Socialistische Partij'', SP; 2001–2021: ''Socialistische Partij Anders'' , , SP. ...

(SP.A) formed an administration with the

Workers' Party of Belgium The Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) is a Marxist and socialist political party in Belgium. It is the only Belgian party represented in parliament that is a fully national party, representing both Flanders and Wallonia. Having historically be ...

, the first time the far-left party had joined a municipal government in Flanders, and Meuleman became mayor of Zelzate. Incumbent mayor Frank Bruggeman of the

Flemish Liberals and Democrats The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (, , Open Vld) 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 v ...

had complained of irregularities in the vote count but this was dismissed by the Council for Electoral Disputes and the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

. Meuleman was sworn in as mayor on 16 January 2019. Meuleman contested the 2014 federal election as the SP.A's third placed substitute candidate in

and received 2,675

preference votes Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

. He contested the 2019 federal election as the SP.A's 18th placed candidate in East Flanders but was not elected. He was elected chairman of the

branch of

in June 2023. He was elected to the Chamber of Representatives at the 2024 federal election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meuleman, Brent 1988 births Belgian schoolteachers Living people Mayors of places in Belgium Members of the 56th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) People from Zelzate Vooruit (political party) politicians