Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo throws in the towel. The liberal announced this Sunday, through tears, that after the poor results of his formation, he will foreseeably step aside and will not continue as acting head of government until a new coalition is formed, something that traditionally lasts months and months in Belgium. up to years. In addition to the European elections, Belgium held federal and regional elections this Sunday. Although the feared victory of the Flemish separatist extreme right of Vlaams Belang (VB) has not occurred, the results, bad for the liberals, have led De Croo to take the unexpected step.
“For us it is an especially difficult day, we have lost. From tomorrow, I will be a resigned prime minister,” said De Croo through tears. However, he has been convinced that his training will go ahead. “The liberals are strong, we will return,” he promised. His party, Open VLD, Flemish liberals, has fallen behind the nationalists of N-VA, the far-right Vlaams Belang and also the Vooruit socialists and the Christian Democrats CD & V.
In the absence of definitive results, Belgium takes a turn to the right but without the final twist towards the most ultras.
Although it continues to increase its strength, the Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang has not achieved its goal of becoming the most voted party in Flanders and, therefore, becoming an important and, above all, almost impossible to fit into the already complex formation of the next Belgian federal government. With the vote count well underway, Bart de Wever’s nationalist N-VA party manages to remain the leading force in the Dutch-speaking region, closely followed by Tom van Grieken’s ultra and Eurosceptic party.
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“Friends, we have won these elections!” congratulated the leader of N-VA, who does not hide his intention to join a future federal government coalition, and even lead it as prime minister, succeeding De Croo. To this end, De Wever has been moderating his message in the last days of the campaign, going so far as to say that the independence of Flanders can wait even if it is the priority of his party, which has achieved around 25% of the votes, a result similar to that In 2019 it allowed him to lead the formation of the Flemish government. The Vlaams Belang, which the polls predicted up to 27% of votes, has finally remained at 22%, which confirms the sustained advance of this ultra force that a decade ago barely had 3.7%, but did not allows it to proclaim itself as the first party in Flanders and Belgium. Something that, in turn, represents a lifeline to the rest of the parties, which will not have to put to the test the traditional cordon sanitaire imposed on this anti-Muslim, anti-immigration and Eurosceptic party.
More than eight million Belgians were called to the polls this Sunday to vote in both the European elections and the regional and federal elections from which the next government must emerge. The polling stations opened – with some technical incidents that delayed the process in some places – at 8 in the morning. Those who voted on paper could do so until 2:00 p.m., while those who opted for electronic voting, possible in 187 cities and districts, had until 4:00 p.m.
Belgian institutional lasagna, a term used by Belgians themselves due to the complexity of their national political system, has many layers and, perhaps, too many ingredients. In total, the Belgians had to elect today the 22 MEPs assigned to the country, as well as the 150 federal deputies (from whose forces the national government coalition negotiations will be carried out), 124 of the Flemish Parliament, as well as the 89 of the Brussels , 75 from the Parliament of Wallonia and the 25 members of the German community, in the east of the country.
While in Flanders, with the N-VA at the forefront hot on the heels of the VB ultras, the status quo, in the capital of Brussels, the advance of the French-speaking liberals MR – unlike De Croo’s Flemish ones – risks a change of regional government. It has been led until now by a coalition led by the French-speaking socialists, who are now projected to move into second place, closely followed by the communists of the PTB. The latter manage to advance, but not as much as predicted by the polls, which also predicted, like the Flemish ultras, an increase from the most radical left.
In Wallonia, where the results are taking longer, after some incidents were recorded in some polling stations, the MR is also emerging as the winning force, displacing the hitherto predominant socialists. In any case, and true to Belgian tradition, no party will achieve sufficient strength to govern without forming some type of coalition with other forces.
Even so, the president of MR, Georges-Louis Bouchez, has celebrated a “historic moment” and has promised that this Monday he will begin the “necessary contacts” to seek to form a Government in the two regions. The results “show a will for change, a will for reforms and we are going to embody them,” promised the leader of the French-speaking liberal formation, of which the current president of the European Council, Charles Michel, is a member. Asked about the possibility of forming an alliance with the N-Va, Bouchez has left the door open. “Our positions are extremely opposite on the future of Belgium,” he acknowledged. But “on socioeconomic issues, security, migration we are very close,” he added. Enough to form a government? “Yes, I think that’s enough for that,” he said, according to the newspaper. Le Soir.
De Croo’s outgoing federal government has been a complicated coalition of seven Flemish and Walloon parties called La Vivaldi for its multiple political colors (as well as linguistic ones) and which took almost 500 days to set up, almost breaking the absolute record, too. Belgian, of 541 days without a government registered in the Guinness Book of Records. The next cabinet, when formed could have even more colors or layers. This Sunday’s results certainly do not predict easy negotiations.
The political formations are so complex – there are socialist, conservative or liberal parties in both the French-speaking region of Wallonia and the Dutch Flanders, but they are not necessarily identical formations, but with different programs and ideologies – that many media outlets have proposed in the last weeks an “electoral test” for citizens to find out, according to their interests and political priorities, which party is most compatible.
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