It happened in East Flanders, where the poll for the Flemish government was headed by one Joke Schauvliege (CD&V), who had the highest total of personal preference votes in the whole province. With 51,800 votes, she beat not only Guy Verhofstadt (whose real race was in the European election) and former parliament speaker Herman De Croo, but also two mediagenic scions of political families: Jean-Jacques De Gucht, son
of foreign minister Karel, who, at 25, floated into a senate seat on the basis of no more than his position as dauphin; and Freya Van den Bossche, daughter of old warhorse Luc, who spent some time as budget minister before the collapse in 2008 of Yves Leterme's administration.

They were famous nationally, but what was Schauvliege's secret? "I think it's a token of recognition for five years of hard work," she says. "I've been there and busy all the time, so I built up a reputation and a strong network across the whole of East Flanders."

That would certainly appear to be the case. Schauvliege, 39, has been in the Flemish Parliament for five years, during which time she's built up a solid reputation as a dogged worker, recently as a member of the committee on town and country planning and
the environment - though she's also had her say on child benefits, cyclists, farmers, electronic payments in restaurants, family, mobility and continuing education.

Schauvliege was born into a committed Christian Democrat family in Ghent and studied law at the local university. She worked as a lawyer at the bar in the city for 10 years, in conjunction with a political career. At 24, she was elected a member of the municipal council of Evergem, a town of about 31,000 to the north of Ghent, where she lives with her husband and two children. (The youngest figured on her campaign posters.) In 1999, Schauvliege was voted into the federal parliament, then moved across to the Flemish parliament in 2004.

Her next career step looks likely to be as a minister in the new government of fellow CD&V politician Kris Peeters. Her impressive figures will make her difficult to pass over, plus East Flanders doesn't yet have a ministerial spot in Flanders, though it has two at federal level. Should Open VLD not be included in the new coalition, the job currently held by Open VLD's Dirk Van Mechelen falls open, and that just happens to cover town and country planning. Is she awaiting the summons?

"We'll just have to wait and see," she says. "The first thing is to work out how many parties and which ones will be in the government and then talk about substance: the policies rather than the personalities."

She would be ready to serve, she says, and doesn't worry that ministers' jobs sometimes take them away from that close bond with the electorate. "It doesn't have to be that way; there are some good examples where that didn't happen. Hilde Crevits is one. Yves Leterme is a very good example where the opposite has happened. They've managed to stay very close to the people who voted for them."

The parliament was dissolved at the end of April, and the returning and new members are not due to take their oath of office until 30 June. Sounds like a good time for a short holiday, but not for Schauvliege.

"I'm still an alderman in the town of Evergem," she explains. "There's work to be done here, and we also have to prepare for the negotiations to form a new council. So it's not a case of the elections are over, and we go off on holiday. Unfortunately."

Unlike most of Flanders, which takes a holiday in July, Schauvliege's family will go away in August, if duties permit. The destination, however, is strictly in line with the majority of Flemings: "We're going to France."

www.jokeschauvliege.be