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Belgium is headed for a new government after a general election in which an expected surge for the far-right Vlaams Belang party failed to materialize and the outgoing ruling coalition led by liberal Prime Minister Alexandre De Croo lost its ability to form a majority.
Vlaams Belang’s main rival, the nationalist 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, the Open VLD, collapsed in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part from the country.
“Our obituaries have been written, but we won this election,” 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 is formed, which currently includes seven parties. 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 night for us, the signal from the voters was clear,” De Croo told supporters, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
The French-speaking liberal party Mouvement Reformateur was the largest in Brussels and French-speaking Wallonia, heading the country into months of challenging coalition talks.
The result came on a triple election day for Belgians, who also voted for regional and European electionsin which the far-right also made the biggest gains, preliminary results show.
With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, N-VA had a clear lead over Vlaams Belang, with De Croo’s party falling to ninth place, partial results posted on the interior ministry’s website showed.
Neither the N-VA nor Vlaams Belang – which have anti-immigrant policies and want to divide Belgium – are part of the current seven-party governing coalition.
Despite garnering around 22% of the votes for the Flemish parliament and 14% for the federal parliament, Vlaams Belang looked set to remain out of power.
Anti-immigration Eurosceptics hoped a dominant performance would see them force their way into the regional government just as an ally Geert Wilders made it onto the national stage in the Netherlands with a win last year.
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