Guido De Padt

Guido De Padt (born 23 May 1954) is a Belgian politician and Senator[1] for the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. Since December 2011, he also is the mayor of Geraardsbergen, an office he also held from 2001 until 2006.

Guido De Padt
Guido De Padt in 2009
Member of the Senate
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 July 2010
Mayor of Geraardsbergen
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 December 2011
Preceded by	Freddy De Chou
In office 1 January 2001 – 31 December 2006
Preceded by	Freddy De Chou
Succeeded by	Freddy De Chou
Government Commissioner
In office 17 July 2009 – 20 July 2010
Prime Minister	Yves Leterme
Minister of the Interior
In office 30 December 2008 – 17 July 2009
Prime Minister	Herman Van Rompuy
Preceded by	Patrick Dewael
Succeeded by	Annemie Turtelboom
Member of the Chamber of Representatives
In office 17 May 2003 – 30 December 2008
Personal details
Born	(1954-05-23) 23 May 1954 Geraardsbergen, Belgium
Political party	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats

He started his national career as member of the Chamber of Representatives. From December 2008 to July 2009, he was Minister of the Interior in the Van Rompuy I Government.[2] In the Leterme II Government, he was appointed government commissioner for the internal audit of the federal government.[3] In 2011, he replaced the socialist Freddy De Chou as mayor of Geraardsbergen. He got national media attention as strong defender to keep the Muur van Geraardsbergen in the Tour of Flanders. His party won the 2012 local elections in Geraardsbergen with 36% of the votes, while he got 25.8% of the preference votes. In contrast with other liberal leaders in Flanders, his popularity had grown.[4]