De Croo will now tend his resignation to King Philippe, who has the power to reject it at his discretion.
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00:00 Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Kruy has suffered a crushing defeat in the country's
00:06 general elections with his liberal Open VLD party managing less than 7% of the vote.
00:13 "We liberals are combative and we are valuable. And I am convinced that we will stand again.
00:20 I have seen an incredible amount of young talent in the past few weeks and I am particularly
00:32 hopeful in this regard."
00:34 Despite polls predicting that the far-right anti-immigration Flams Belang party would
00:38 become the main political force, the right-wing nationalist New Flemish Alliance retained
00:43 first place with an expected 22%. Flams Belang came in second taking 17.5% of the vote.
00:50 "It's important nowadays to give Flemish a different direction. Belgium is the past,
00:58 Flemish is the future. The Flemish people need a new government which is Flemish and
01:03 is right-wing."
01:05 Sunday's results will result in complex negotiations to form coalitions in a country divided by
01:11 language and deep regional identities.
01:14 Flams Belang has so far been blocked from entering governments as mainstream parties
01:19 vow to exclude it from power under a "cordon sanitaire" doctrine. That refers to the protective
01:25 barrier put in place to stop the spread of infectious diseases.
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