Belgium headed for new government as PM set to
resign after general election
The governing coalition of Alexander De Croo lost its
ability to form a majority – while an expected surge for far right Vlaams
Belang failed to materialise
Lisa
O'Carroll in Brussels
Mon 10 Jun
2024 01.31 BST
Belgium is
heading for a new government after a general election in which an expected
surge for the far right party Vlaams Belang failed to materialise and the
outgoing governing coalition headed by liberal prime minister Alexander De Croo
lost its ability to form a majority.
Vlaams
Belang’s arch rival the nationalist party N-VA (New Flemish Alliance) was on
course to remain the largest party in Belgium’s parliament on Sunday while De
Croo’s liberal party, Open VLD, slumped in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of
the country.
“Our
obituaries were written, but we won these elections,” said N-VA leader Bart De
Wever, who now looks a good bet to become Belgium’s next prime minister.
De Croo
will remain caretaker prime minister until a new coalition, currently involving
seven parties, is formed. According to protocol, he will hand in his
resignation to Belgium’s King Philippe on Monday at the royal palace in
Brussels.
“This is a
particularly difficult evening for us, the signal from the voters has been
clear,” De Croo told supporters, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
The
French-speaking liberal party Mouvement Reformateur was the biggest in Brussels
and French-speaking Wallonia, setting the country on course for months of
challenging coalition talks.
The result
came on a day of triple elections for Belgians who were also voting for
regional and European elections, in which the far-right also made the biggest
gains, preliminary results showed.
With over
90% of the vote counted, N-VA had a clear lead over Vlaams Belang, with De
Croo’s party dropping to the ninth place, partial results published on the
interior ministry website showed.
Neither
N-VA nor Vlaams Belang – which has anti-immigrant policies and wants to split
up Belgium – is part of the current seven-party governing coalition.
Despite
picking up some 22% of the vote for the Flemish parliament and 14% for the
federal parliament, Vlaams Belang looked set to remain excluded from power.
The
anti-immigration Eurosceptics had been hoping that a dominant showing would see
them force their way into the regional government, just as ally Geert Wilders
had done on the national stage in the Netherlands with a win last year.
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