The outgoing Belgian prime minister suffered a heavy blow in the elections on Sunday.
Flemish liberal prime minister Alexander de Croo said Belgian King Philippe has accepted his resignation after his party Open VLD suffered a heavy loss at Sunday’s elections, according to an X post published on Monday.
De Croo said the current government will take care of current affairs and prepare the transition to a new team while he will remain a caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed.
“I would like to sincerely thank our voters and militants. The election results are a disappointment and I take responsibility for that,” the Flemish politician conceded, after scooping only 5.4% of national votes, down 3.1% compared to the last federal elections held five years ago, according to newspaper Le Soir.
Despite polls predicting that the far-right, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang party would become the main political force in the country with 11.5 million inhabitants, the right-wing nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) retained its first spot, with 16.7% of the votes.
Sunday’s results will result in complex negotiations in a country divided by language and deep regional identities. Belgium is split along linguistic lines, with francophone Wallonia in the south and Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north, and governments are invariably formed by coalitions made of parties from both regions.
Belgium holds the world record for the longest time needed to form a government, after a government coalition was named in December 2021 following a total of 541 days of negotiations.
More than 8 million Belgians voted in what was dubbed ‘Super Sunday’ elections to choose their regional and national representatives, as well as MEPs in the new European Parliament.
