Belgian King asks Bart De Wever to lead coalition talks

Belgium's monarch, King Albert has today appointed Flemish separatist leader Bart De Wever to “explore coalition options” after Sunday's parliamentary elections in which De Wever's party won the largest proportion of seats.

De Wever has accepted the short-term position, the King’s palace said in a statement.

Belgian voters gave De Wever's New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) the most parliamentary seats in the election, while the French-speaking socialists (PS) emerged as the strongest party in the southern region of Wallonia.

De Wever and PS chairman Elio Di Rupo are widely expected to conduct talks to form a coalition government, and it is widely expected that Di Rupo will become the next Prime Minister.

De Wever is reluctant to lead a united Belgium, and has said he is open to the idea of a first Francophone premier since 1974 if that would help to bring more powers to the Dutch-speaking, northern region of Flanders.

But it may prove difficult to bridge the two leaders' ideological differences, and De Wever has said he wants to avoid long coalition talks.