Belgium is heading for a new government after a general election in which an expected surge by the far-right Vlaams Verand party failed to materialize and the outgoing coalition government led by liberal Prime Minister Alexander De Croo lost the ability to form a majority.
Mr Vlaams-Belan’s main rival, the nationalist New Flemish Union (N-VA), is expected to remain the largest party in the Belgian parliament on Sunday, while Mr De Croo’s liberal Open VLD party has seen its support fall in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
“Our obituaries were being written, but we won this election,” said N-VA leader Bart de Wever, who is seen as the leading candidate to become Belgium’s next prime minister.
De Croo will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new coalition government, currently made up of seven parties, is formed. As is customary, he is due to submit his resignation to Belgium’s King Philippe at the Royal Palace in Brussels on Monday.
“Tonight is a particularly difficult night for us. The message from our voters is clear,” De Croo told supporters, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes.
The French-speaking liberal Movement for Reform party is the strongest force in Brussels and in the French-speaking Wallonia region, leading the country into months of difficult coalition talks.
The results come on a triple election day when Belgians also voted in regional and European elections, with preliminary results showing that the far-right also made their biggest gains in these elections.
Partial results published on the interior ministry’s website showed the N-VA held a clear lead over Vlaams Veran with more than 90 percent of the votes counted, dropping De Croo’s party to ninth place.
Neither the N-VA nor the Vlames Veran, which advocates anti-immigration policies and wants to break up Belgium, are part of the current seven-party coalition government.
Vlaams Verandah is likely to remain excluded from power despite winning around 22% of the vote in the Flemish parliament and around 14% in the federal parliament.
Anti-immigration eurosceptics had hoped a landslide vote would propel them into the European Union’s governing body, similar to the way their ally Geert Wilders won national elections in the Netherlands last year.
