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Separatists win big in Belgium, search for coalition gov’t starts
“The party that got the most votes is a separatist party and it throws into question over a long timeframe, over a few years and longer ... who’s going to pay that debt back, said Peter Chatwell, a strategist at Credit Agricole.
King Albert started post-election procedures by receiving outgoing Prime Minister Yves Leterme and formally accepting his government’s resignation following Sunday’s vote. He also received the heads of both houses of parliament.
At least four parties will be needed to form a coalition and the king was expected quickly to hold further consultations with Flemish- and French-speaking party leaders.
The N-VA, led by 39-year-old historian Bart De Wever, emerged as the strongest party in the Dutch-speaking Flanders region of northern Belgium and won the most votes in the whole of the linguistically-divided country of 10.6 million people. The French-speaking Socialists (PS) emerged as the second strongest party in Belgium, winning separate voting on Sunday in the southern, Francophone region of Wallonia. Final results have yet to be confirmed but the N-VA is projected to have 27 seats in the lower house of parliament,one more than the PS.
But together with the Flemish socialists, the PS could form the largest group in parliament, meaning PS leader Elio Di Rupo could become the next prime minister.
Tough talks ahead
French- and Dutch-language newspapers pointed to the tough task De Wever and Di Rupo face in forming a government which will have to bridge ideological differences.
“The question evidently is to know if Bart De Wever is really capable of taking part in a process of negotiation with the Francophones,” the French-language La Libre Belgique wrote.
De Wever will want to make good on his promise to devolve more powers to the regions in Belgium, which hosts the headquarters of the European Union and the Nato defence alliance and is a member of both organizations.
But to form a government, he will need to make concessions to appease his coalition partners and there is no immediate prospect of Belgium breaking up.
Lengthy coalition talks could lead to policy paralysis until a government is formed, making the country more vulnerable on financial markets which are closely watching a sovereign debt crisis among countries that use the euro. There were some initial signs of concern, but certainly no crisis, over the election result. The premium investors demand to hold Belgian 10-year bonds rather than benchmark German Bunds rose a little.
Jacques De Pover, an economist at Dexia, said there was no reason for concern in the short-term but a negative effect could be felt in the form of an increase in bond spreads if a government is not formed by September.
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