Kruisem

Kruisem is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders that was established on 1 January 2019 from the merging of the municipalities of Kruishoutem and Zingem.

The merged municipality has an area of 71.59 km2 and a population of 15,876 people as of 2022. The municipality consists of the deelgemeentes Huise, Kruishoutem, Nokere, Ouwegem, Wannegem-Lede and Zingem.

Creation
The Flemish Government provides incentives for municipalities to voluntarily merge. The municipal councils of Kruishoutem and Zingem approved a merge in 2017, which was ratified by Flemish decree of 4 May 2018 alongside several other merges, all to be effective per 1 January 2019.

As of 1 January 2018, the municipality of Kruishoutem had a population of 8,086 and Zingem a population of 7,552.

Government
The first elections for the new municipality were held during the regular local elections of 14 October 2018, electing a municipal council for the legislative period of 2019–2024. CD&V obtained a majority of seats in the municipal council (14 out of 25). Joop Verzele becomes mayor of Kruisem.