Emine Gül Isçi — © BELGA
The 43-year-old Emine Gül Isçi from Ghent succeeds Conner Rousseau as Flemish Member of Parliament for Vooruit. She took the oath on Tuesday before Flemish Parliament President Liesbeth Homans. Rousseau himself announced his resignation as a member of parliament two weeks ago. It is still not known whether he will run for office in the upcoming elections.
Emine Gül Isçi is 43 years old and the mother of three children. She is a program counselor for young people in part-time vocational education. “I work with young people who are at risk of dropping out of school. Giving them new perspective and not letting their talent go to waste, that is my struggle,” she says.
Gül Isçi was elected to the Ghent municipal council in 1999 at the age of nineteen, and served there until 2006. In 2019, she was the first successor on the sp.a list for the Flemish Parliament, and received more than 4,000 preferential votes.
She also wants to take her experience as a program counselor to the Flemish Parliament, where she wants to work for the opportunities of young people – in the limited remaining time of this legislature. “Regardless of their origins, regardless of the backpack they often carry with them. As a counselor, I don’t give up on anyone. Valuing every talent and giving every young person a place: I will now wage that battle in the Flemish Parliament,” he said.
According to Gül Isçi, many young people miss a good start in life because the Flemish government does not address certain issues. “I increasingly have the feeling that they have no idea how things work in reality, that they have lost all touch with the educational field and with the young people who go to school there. It is the voice of those young people that I want to make heard in the Flemish Parliament over the next six months.”