Nadia Sminate (born 29 December 1981 in

Bonheiden Bonheiden () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Bonheiden proper and Rijmenam. In 2021, Bonheiden had a total population of 15,177. The total area is 29.27 km2 (11.30 sq ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

politician and is affiliated to the

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( nl, Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie, N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was founded in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). T ...

. She was elected as a member of the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...

in 2010.

Early life

She was born to a

(

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

) mother and a Moroccan father. Sminate studied

romance philology Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...

at the

Vrije Universiteit Brussel The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) () is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is one of the five universities officially recognised by the Flemish Community, Flemish gov ...

, graduating in 2003. Afterwards she was an

adult education Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

teacher; first in

Ganshoren Ganshoren (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by Jette, Koekelberg, and Sint-Agatha-Berchem, as well as the Flemish municipality of Asse. ...

and then in

Meise Meise () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Meise proper and Wolvertem (a ''deelgemeente''), and, several smaller villages like Sint-Brixius-Rode, Oppem, Meusegem, Impde/I ...

Jette Jette (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Ganshoren, Koekelberg, and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, as well as the Flemi ...

. She was then a

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

for a while and was elected Miss Handelsgids.

Political career

She became a member of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party, which she served in the Chamber of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. Thereafter she was promoted to staff member of

Philippe Muyters Philippe Muyters (born 6 December 1961) is a Belgian politician from the Flemish Region and is a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). Muyters was born in Antwerp. From 2000 until 2009 he was the Managing Director of VOKA (Flemish Chamber o ...

, then Flemish Minister of Finance, Budget and Spatial Planning. In the Belgian federal elections of 2010, she was elected from second place on the electoral list for the electoral district of

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde The area within Belgium known as Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde encompasses the bilingual— French and Dutch—Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking area of Halle-Vilvo ...

as a Member of Parliament with 8,884 preferential votes. In the municipal elections of 2012 she was the list leader for her party in

Londerzeel Londerzeel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Londerzeel proper, Malderen, Steenhuffel (home of Palm Breweries) and Sint-Jozef. On 1 January 2006, Londerzeel had a to ...

. The party came up independently for the first time and obtained 21.6% of the vote. This made the party the third largest in the municipality after

CD&V Christian Democratic and Flemish (, , CD&V) is a Flemish Christian-democratic political party in Belgium. The party has historical ties to both trade unionism ( ACV) and trade associations (UNIZO) and the Farmer's League. Until 2001, the party wa ...

(31.5%) and the local LWD party (26.3%). On behalf of her party, she concluded an administrative agreement with CD&V and sp.a-Groen. At the beginning of 2014 she became Alderman of Finance, Budget and Personnel. She was elected Flemish Member of Parliament in the 2014 Flemish elections. From the end of June 2014, she was part of the Bureau (daily board) of the Flemish Parliament as secretary. In January 2016, as agreed in the administrative agreement, she succeeded Jozef De Borger (CD&V) as Londerzeel's mayor. She was thus the first Flemish mayor with Moroccan roots. In the 2018 elections, Sminate's party won a big victory with 35.4%, but the N-VA ended up in the opposition this time. She has also served as a state senator in the

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

since January 2019.Metrotime.be
'Zes nieuwe gezichten en drie nieuwe fractievoorzitters in de Senaat'
11 January 2019. In the Flemish elections of 26 May 2019, she was re-elected as a Flemish Member of Parliament. Since mid-June 2019, she has been third vice-president of this assembly.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sminate, Nadia Living people Members of the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) New Flemish Alliance politicians 1981 births People from Bonheiden Belgian people of Moroccan descent Vrije Universiteit Brussel alumni 21st-century Belgian politicians 21st-century Belgian women politicians