Belgian voters polls apart

BELGIUM could be in for a long summer of negotiations before its new government is formed, following a potentially divisive election in which two parties of the right and left received the most votes.

The largest party in the Dutch-speaking Flanders, with up to 30% of the vote, will be the right-wing New Flanders Alliance (N-VA) that campaigned on a ticket of splitting the country in two along linguistic lines.

In the southern French -speaking region of Walloon the Socialists are once again the largest party, having increased support to gain more than 32% of the vote, putting them in a very strong position nationally.