Belgium, which hasn’t had a stable government for three years, held elections yesterday that were won by Flemish separatists (N-VA). It is not so clear if and how they will form a coalition government and even less clear how they may go about achieving their goal of a more independent Flemish region. Many experts expect that the leader of the second largest party (the francophone socialists) will become the new prime-minister. Still, the large proportion of Flemish votes for separatists will likely mean that institutional reform is going to be high on the agenda. Here is a background piece on Belgian politics from 538 (comparing it to Afghan politics). Ingrid Robeyns has more analysis of the elections at Crooked Timber. As Ingrid points out, it is important to distinguish the N-VA from the racist Flemish Block (which lost in the elections) although it is still difficult to precisely figure out what the N-VA stands for. As with the PVV in the Netherlands, the N-VA seems to turn around one man: Bart de Wever, although the N-VA is more established as a party than the PVV (the PVV has one member: Wilders) and De Wever is not driven as much by opposotion to islam as is Wilders. The N-VA has tried hard to establish itself as the main center-right party and the voters have now given them the opportunity.
