King Philippe of Belgium officially dismissed Prime Minister Alexander De Croo following the election results that took place on Sunday evening. De Croo remains “caretaker” prime minister, a type of caretaker government with limited powers. He will do so until a new prime minister is found.

This is standard procedure; Every Belgian Prime Minister who completes his term submits his resignation to the King.

De Croo will likely not become the new prime minister himself. In the Flemish parliamentary elections, his liberal party Open Vld received 8.5% of the votes. In the previous elections, his party attracted 13 percent of voters.

Party president Tom Ongina announced that the entire party board would resign, and said there was “a very good chance” the party would take a seat in the opposition.

It is not clear who will be the new prime minister of Belgium. On the Flemish side, the centre-right N-VA party led by Bart de Wever became the largest. De Wever said during the election campaign that he wanted to become prime minister.

But then he would have to sit down with the liberal-conservative Reformist (MR) movement; This party became the largest in Wallonia and Brussels. Furthermore, the French-speaking Christian Democrats of Les Engagés have previously stated that they would prefer not to join a government in which De Wever would be prime minister.

However, Belgium can prepare for a tough lineup. Voting in Flanders is very different than in Wallonia and Brussels. In Wallonia, the liberal conservative Reformist (MR) movement is by far the largest, followed by the French-speaking socialists of the Socialist Party.

The other big winner on the French-speaking side is Les Engagés, the former Christian Democratic Party. In Brussels, the liberal and green parties emerged victorious.

The far-right Vlaams Belang party also made gains, but not enough to become the largest. The party gained as many seats in the Flemish Parliament as N-VA: 31. In the Federal Parliament, only the N-VA was larger.

Vlaams Belang leader Tom van Greken called on the N-VA to put a coalition together. De Wever had previously ruled out collaborating with Vlaamse Belang. The N-VA would therefore face the risk of being excluded from forming a national government. French-speaking parties do not at all want to deal with the far right.

Although Belgium has mandatory attendance, 12.5% ​​of voters did not attend. Belgian media wrote that this percentage had never been this high before. In theory, people who did not vote risked a fine. Prosecutions rarely occur, because Belgian prosecutors have other priorities.

By the way, compulsory attendance is not mandatory. Belgians who are eligible to vote are obligated to go to the polls. Once there, they can also choose not to vote, vote on a blank sheet of paper, or vote incorrectly.