Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Belgian PM Alexander De Croo announced his resignation after his party’s heavy defeat in the general election. He will remain as caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed.
The Belgian PM Alexander De Croohas formally announced his resignation following a visit to the King after his Flemish Liberals and Democrats party (Open VLD) faced heavy defeats in Sunday’s general election.
How Will Belgium Form Its New Government?
PM Alexander De Croo will stay caretaker prime minister until a new coalition, involving seven parties, is created, a process that could endure months. In line with protocol, he conveyed his resignation to Belgium’s King Philippe on Monday morning at the royal palace in Brussels. A fresh government is likely to connect around the right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which defeated its arch-rival, the far-right Vlaams Belang, into second position in the key Dutch-speaking Flanders area where it had been predicted to top the polls.
“For us, it’s a particularly difficult evening. We lost. As of tomorrow, I will resign as prime minister,” a visibly emotional De Croo stated. “Our obituaries were written, but we won these elections,” stated the N-VA leader, Bart De Wever, who now looks likely to become Belgium’s next prime minister.
Under the rules, a lead negotiator must be determined by the king to kick off the negotiations, and De Wever is likely to be selected by the end of the week, according to local media. But the French-speaking liberal party, Mouvement Reformateur, was the largest in Brussels and French-speaking Wallonia, setting the nation on course for months of challenging coalition talks.
What Were the Election Results in Flanders?
The result arrived on a day of triple elections for Belgians who were also voting for provincial and European elections, in which the far-right made the most significant gains, preliminary results showed. With more than 90% of the vote calculated, N-VA had a clear lead over Vlaams Belang, with De Croo’s party falling to ninth place, partial results published on the interior ministry website showed.
New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) maintained its first spot, with an expected 22% of the votes, according to provisional results delivered by the interior ministry. The Vlaams Belang came in second position, with a percentage of 17.5%, ahead of the Socialist Vooruit party, which garnered about 10.5% of the votes.
De Croo’s party collected less than 7% of the votes, lagging well behind the far left. Neither N-VA nor Vlaams Belang – which has anti-immigrant approaches and wants to split up Belgium – is part of the current seven-party governing coalition.
Despite gathering up some 22% of the vote for the Flemish parliament and 14% for the federal parliament, Vlaams Belang glanced set to remain excluded from power. The anti-immigration Eurosceptics had been hoping that a prevalent showing would see them force their way into the regional government, just as ally Geert Wilders had done on the national scene in the Netherlands with a win last year.
