In 1976, Staden fused with the smaller villages of Oostnieuwkerke and Westrozebeke into a single municipality.

Staden has always been known as a Christian-democrat municipality, like so many other rural municipalities in West Flanders, where the CVP and later CD&V always held the majority or even absolute majority of the seats, and thus was always able to deliver the mayor.

On the evening of the counting, the three opposition parties: Open Vld, N-VA and sp.a got to an agreement and formed the majority with 11 of 21 seats.

After the inauguration in 2013, Francesco Vanderjeugd [nl] from the Open Vld was the mayor of Staden.

Near the end of 2014, Koen Demonie threatened to leave the N-VA, which would cost the majority one seat, and would make the municipality ungovernable.