He was first elected to the Belgian Parliament in 1985. From 1985 to 1992 Dewael served for the
PVV as Flemish minister of Culture in the governments led by Gaston Geens (II, III and IV). After the defeat of the liberals at the 1992 elections, Dewael served as an opposition MP until the liberals regained power in 1999. He was
Minister-President of the regional government of Flanders from 1999 to 2003. After the Federal elections of 2003, Dewael resigned as
minister-president in order to serve as deputy prime minister and minister of the interior in the
Belgian Federal government led by
Guy Verhofstadt. When Kurdish militant
Fehriye Erdal was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment by a
Bruges court on 28 February 2006, it turned out that she had shaken off the
Belgian secret service, which had had the responsibility of following her since 23 February 2006 (Erdal had been under house arrest since 2000). Both the Minister of Justice,
Laurette Onkelinx, and the Minister of the Interior, Patrick Dewael came under fire for this incident. He was deputy prime minister and minister for interior in the
Leterme I Government, which took office on 20 March 2008. On 31 December 2008, he became president of the
Chamber of Representatives. He was replaced as
interior minister by
Guido De Padt. ==Private life==