Belgian Prime Minister Resigns Following Election Defeat

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Facts

• Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of the ruling Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) party Sunday tendered his resignation following his party's defeat in the federal elections.¹
• In De Croo's constituency of East Flanders, Open VLD won 10% of the vote, down from 17.85% in 2019. Nationally, his party took less than 7%. The top two parties were the right New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and anti-immigration Vlaams Belang parties.²
• N-VA and Vlaams Belang won 24.8% and 22.7% of the vote, respectively, giving them 31 seats each but not enough to form a 63-seat majority. While an exclusively right-wing coalition is statistically impossible, N-VA has not yet said how it intends to govern.³
• Eight million people in the country of 11.5M voted for regional, national, and European Parliament representatives. The newly elected politicians will now form the next government through potentially long negotiations, with the record being 541 days in 2021.²
• The King of Belgium must select a lead negotiator to begin coalition talks, with NV-A leader Bart De Wever expected to be chosen by week's end. The liberal, French-speaking Mouvement Reformateur party is also expected to play a major role in negotiations.⁴
• This comes as right and anti-immigration parties are finding broader electoral success across Europe, including in France, Germany, and Austria.⁵

Sources: ¹Aa, ²Euronews, ³Brusselstimes, ⁴Guardian and ⁵Daily Mail.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Breitbart. This was a clear rebuke of both De Croo as a person and his party. Not only did Belgian voters unseat the Open VLD, they also stripped 11 seats from green parties. De Croo represents the European elites, as shown by his anti-Trump remarks, which is why the people voted for parties who will focus on national concerns.
• Left narrative, as provided by New York Times. Despite the gains of far-right parties, Belgian voters kept them from forming a government. Belgium is a historically diverse country — from its semi-autonomous Flemish- and Dutch-speaking regions to its North African immigrants — which is why the people voted to keep the far-right from ending immigration and tearing the country apart.

Predictions