Thursday, July 9, 2026

Belgian king accepts prime minister’s resignation after election defeat

Mr De Croo’s coalition government will stay on as a caretaker until a new coalition is formed.

• June 10, 2024
Alexander De Croo (Former Belgian PM)
Alexander De Croo (Former Belgian PM) [Credit: X]

Belgian King Philippe, on Monday, accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as is normal after elections in Belgium.

Mr De Croo’s coalition government will stay on as a caretaker until a new coalition is formed, the prime minister said on the social media platform X.

The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a conservative and Flemish separatist group, came first in the elections, as they did in the last election in 2019.

However, the N-VA remained in opposition, while Mr De Croo’s Flemish liberal Open VLD eventually formed a seven-party coalition.

Belgian politics is fractious and split almost entirely on linguistic lines between the Dutch-speaking Flemings and the French-speaking Walloons.

There is very little direct competition for votes between the parties of the two languages, which largely compete amongst themselves separately.

The final results on Monday showed the conservative N-VA with 24 of 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, having lost one seat.

The more extreme Flemish-nationalist party Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) has 20 points, a gain of two, as does the French-speaking liberal Reformist Movement (MR), which gained four.

Mr De Croo’s OpenVLD performed poorly, losing five of its 12 seats, leaving it with seven.

The MR was the only coalition partner to gain seats.

The Flemish Social Democratic Vooruit, also a coalition partner, held on to its 13 seats, though it made no net gain.

The remaining four parties in the outgoing coalition all suffered losses, especially the French-speaking green party Ecolo, which lost 10 seats, leaving it with just three.

The Belgian federal election was held on the same day as the European Parliament election. 

(dpa/NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Stock Market

Economy

Stock market transacts 1.66 billion shares, gains N962 billion

The uptrend was driven by broad-based buying interest across banking, consumer goods, industrial, insurance and telecommunications stocks.

Kano

Kano govt inaugurates 2025/2026 annual school census

The commissioner presented sample census questionnaires and other data collection materials to key education agencies.

Sport

Mbappe effigy burning in Paraguay fuels racism accusations from fans

The decision to burn an effigy of Mbappe did not sit well with many on social media, and they are claiming racism as the motive behind it.

ISWAP

States

Soldier killed as ISWAP terrorists attack Borno military base

The army described the July 7 attack on the base as a coordinated assault that was successfully repelled by troops.

Nigerian visa

Diaspora

Nigeria suspends O15 third-party visa services for U.S.-based applicants

The service, which did not disclose reasons for the suspension, clarified that its e-visa system remained active for prospective travellers.

Sport

Paraguayan lawmaker’s racist remarks against Mbappé disgraceful, violate human dignity: WHO DG

Mr Mbappé hit back at the Paraguayan lawmaker, who had referred to him as “ugly” and “a colonised Cameroonian.”