2014 Belgian federal election

none March 2021 Belgium 2010 2019 All 150 seats in the Chamber of Representatives 76 2014 05 25 yes 89.37% Bart De Wever New Flemish Alliance 27 33 20.26 Elio Di Rupo Parti Socialiste (Belgium) 26 23 11.67 Wouter Beke Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams 17 18 11.61 Gwendolyn Rutten Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats 13 14 9.78 Charles Michel Mouvement Réformateur 18 20 9.64 Bruno Tobback Socialistische Partij Anders 13 13 8.83 Wouter Van Besien Groen (political party) 5 6 5.32 Benoît Lutgen Centre démocrate humaniste 9 9 4.98 Peter Mertens Workers' Party of Belgium 0 2 3.72 Gerolf Annemans Vlaams Belang 12 3 3.67 Olivier Deleuze& Emily Hoyos Ecolo 8 6 3.30 Olivier Maingain FDF DéFI new 2 1.80 Mischaël Modrikamen People's Party (Belgium) 1 1 1.50 2014 Belgium Chamber of Representatives election.svg Results by constituency Federal Government Di Rupo Government Di Rupo cropped.jpg Michel I Government Charles Michel (2018-01-31) (cropped).jpg Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014.http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland/article/detail/1637141/2013/05/21/Europa-bekrachtigt-25-mei-als-Belgische-verkiezingsdatum.dhtml Europa bekrachtigt 25 mei als Belgische verkiezingsdatum HLN 11 October 2014 All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign. Date As part of the state reform adopted 19 December 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20140606225703/http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/Politics/131220_State_reform_ok 6 June 2014 the date of election will from now on coincide with the European elections,Proposal for a revision of the Belgian Constitution, senate.be which the Council of the EU has scheduled for 22–25 May 2014.COUNCIL DECISION 2013/299/EU, Euratom of 14 June 2013 fixing the period for the eighth election of representatives to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, published on 21 June 2013 by the Official Journal of the European Union, L 169/69 The regional elections in Belgium already constitutionally coincide with the European elections, consequently Belgians will vote for three elections on the same day. On 25 April 2014, a declaration to amend the Constitution was adopted, formally dissolving parliament and triggering new elections within 40 days.25 AVRIL 2014. - Déclaration de révision de la Constitution, Belgian Official Journal Electoral system Provinces of Belgium.svg 280 left 0.55 0.12 280 24 0.30 0.19 280 20 0.55 0.25 280 15 0.455 0.27 280 15 0.33 0.40 280 18 0.76 0.38 280 15 0.72 0.19 280 12 0.75 0.6 280 4 0.60 0.46 280 6 0.51 0.355 280 5 0.11 0.19 280 16 0.1 0.6 280 #fab274 Flanders 0.1 0.67 280 #f2536b Wallonia 0.1 0.74 280 #2385d2 Brussels The 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives are elected in 11 multi-member constituencies, being the ten provinces and Brussels, with between 4 and 24 seats. Seats are allocated using the d'Hondt method, with an electoral threshold of 5% per constituency.Electoral system IPU Apportionment of seats is done every ten years, last by royal order of 31 January 2013, based on the population figures of 28 May 2012. Representatives elected from the five Flemish Region provinces, Antwerp (24), East Flanders (20), Flemish Brabant (15), Limburg (12) and West Flanders (16), automatically belong to the Dutch-speaking language group in parliament, whereas those elected from the five provinces of Wallonia, Hainaut (18), Liège (15), Luxembourg (4), Namur (6) and Walloon Brabant (5), form the French-speaking language group. The 15 members elected in Brussels may choose to join either group, though de facto only French-speaking parties reach the threshold. The 60-member Senate is composed of 50 representatives from the regional and community parliaments, plus 10 co-opted senators proportionally divided among parties based on the result of the federal election. Voters All Belgian citizens aged 18 or over are obligated to participate in the election. Foreigners residing in Belgium (regardless of EU citizenship) cannot vote, whereas Belgian citizens living abroad may register to vote. Following the sixth state reform, they can no longer freely choose in which constituency their vote counts; instead the municipality is objectively defined by statutory criteria. Since the previous elections were snap elections, there was more preparation time now, allowing for significantly increased use of the option compared to 2010. The electoral roll was fixed per 1 March 2014. 2014 2010 Difference Eligible Belgians residing in Belgium 7,879,874 7,725,463 +154,411 (+2.00%) Eligible Belgians residing abroad 128,902 42,089 +86,813 (+206.26%)  - voted in-person or by proxy in a municipality in Belgium 20,241 9,741 +10,500 (+107.79%)  - voted in-person or by proxy in the Belgian diplomatic or consular post where they registered 19,080 13,089 +5,991 (+45.77%)  - voted by mail 89,581 19,259 +70,322 (+365.14%) Total 8,008,776 7,767,552 +241,224 (+3.11%) 151 Flemish municipalities and 2 Brussels municipalities voted electronically; the remaining 157 Flemish and 17 Brussels and all 262 Walloon municipalities voted by paper ballot. Timetable 25 February Start of the "waiting period" (sperperiode) running until the day of the election, during which political propaganda and expenses are strictly regulated 1 March The electoral roll is fixed by municipal authorities 25 April The Parliament adopts a declaration to amend the Constitution, formally dissolving parliament and triggering elections within 40 days 10 May Final day for the official announcement of the election and the convocation letter to voters 21 May Polling day for Belgians residing abroad in the embassies and consular posts 25 May Polling day (from 8am until 2pm, or until 4pm where voting is done electronically) 19 June Constitutive session of the newly elected Chamber of Representatives Background and reforms since last election 2010–2011 Belgian government formation 2007–2011 Belgian political crisis Sixth Belgian state reform The previous 2010 election resulted in a victory for Flemish nationalist N-VA. The coalition formation stalemate went on for a record-breaking 541 days. Eventually, the negotiating parties agreed upon a sixth Belgian state reform and the Di Rupo Government was finally formed on 6 December 2011 and comprised PS, MR, CD&V, Open VLD, sp.a and cdH. The state reform has the following consequences for the election in 2014: The controversial electoral constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde no longer exists; rather, each province plus the federal capital now has its own constituency, and voter discrimination has been abolished. The Senate will no longer be directly elected. The term length will be increased from 4 years to 5 years, and the election will always coincide with the European Parliament election. Election campaign The campaign topics largely focused on socio-economic reforms: job creation and unemployment, tax reform, pensions, ... This campaign also featured an unprecedented level of quantified programmes by political parties. For example, the N-VA released its "V plan" and CD&V its "3D plan". One week before the election day, former CD&V Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene suddenly died while in France. Several debates were cancelled, and CD&V as well as all other Flemish parties suspended their campaign for a few days.http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1968614 CD&V schort campagne op na overlijden van Dehaene deredactie.be 15 May 2014 Jewish Museum shooting On 24 May, the day before the elections, a shooting occurred at the Belgian Jewish Museum in Brussels, with three people reported dead.http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1977839 Three die in Brussels shooting at Jewish Museum deredactie.be 24 May 2014 Self-described anti-Zionist MP Laurent Louis suggested that the attack could be a false flag operation seeking to discredit him and his political party (Debout les Belges, or "Stand Up, Belgians") on the eve of the elections.Facebook post by Laurent LOUIS https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=667063120032656&id=152223684849938 Laurent Louis 24 May 2014 Political parties thumb|300px| The primary six Flemish political parties and their results for the House of Representatives (Kamer). From 1978 to 2014, in percentages for the complete 'Kingdom'. Current situation In 2010, ten parties won seats in the Belgian Senate: Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V), Centre Démocrate Humaniste (cdH), Socialistische Partij Anders (sp.a), Parti Socialiste (PS), Open Vld, Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Groen, Ecolo, New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and Vlaams Belang. In the Chamber of Representatives, the People's Party (PP) and Libertarian, Direct, Democratic (LDD) each also won one seat. During the legislation, the Francophone Democratic Federalists (FDF) separated from the MR party and are now represented in the Chamber with 3 representatives, but have no Senators. The PP Member of Parliament left the party and became an independent. One Vlaams Belang member of the Chamber and one Vlaams Belang member of the Senate left their party and decided to become independents. Thus, currently the ten major parties are represented in both the Chamber and the Senate; in addition, LDD and FDF are represented in the Chamber of Representatives. However, most of the major parties only operate in the Dutch-speaking or in the French-speaking constituencies. Voters who live in the provinces of Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg or West Flanders can only vote for CD&V, Groen, N-VA, Open VLD, sp.a and Vlaams Belang, apart from the minor parties – except when a French-speaking party would present a list in one of these provinces, which has not happened except for a FDF and a PP list in Flemish Brabant. In the provinces of Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, Namur and Walloon Brabant, voters can only vote for cdH, Ecolo, MR and PS, apart from the minor parties – except when a Dutch-speaking party would present a list in one of these provinces, which has not happened in this elections. In the constituency of Liège, the German-speaking parties CSP, Ecolo, PFF and SP all form one list with their French-speaking counterparts; the name of these lists only mention the French-speaking party. Therefore, the CSP politicians are on the cdH list, the Ecolo ones on the Ecolo list, PFF on the MR list and SP on the PS list. The other German-speaking parties (ProDG and Vivant) do not present a list due to their marginal chance of getting a seat in Parliament. In the constituency of Brussels-Capital, Ecolo and Groen formed one list under the name Ecolo.http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.1762540 Groen en Ecolo op één federale lijst in Brussel deredactie.be 11 October 2014 CD&V, N-VA, Open Vld, sp.a and Vlaams Belang will each present a single list. LDD only presented a list in West Flanders. FDF presented a list in all Walloon constituencies, in Brussels-Capital and in Flemish Brabant. PVDA-PTB presented a list in all eleven constituencies of Belgium, making it one of the few parties which are represented in the whole of Belgium. Main candidates The following candidates are the first on the respective party list (lijsttrekker / tête de liste) per constituency. Dutch-speaking constituencies Party Antwerp East Flanders Flemish Brabant Limburg (Belgium) Limburg West Flanders Brussels Major parties CD&V Servais Verherstraeten Pieter De Crem Koen Geens Wouter Beke Hendrik Bogaert Benjamin Dalle Groen Meyrem Almaci Stefaan Van Hecke Anne Dedry Katrijn Conjaerts Wouter De Vriendt Annalisa Gadaleta(3rd on ECOLO list) N-VA Bart De Wever Siegfried Bracke Theo Francken Steven Vandeput Brecht Vermeulen Luc Demullier Open Vld Annemie Turtelboom Alexander De Croo Maggie De Block Patrick Dewael Vincent Van Quickenborne Thomas Ryckalts sp.a Monica De Coninck Karin Temmerman Hans Bonte Peter Van Velthoven Johan Vande Lanotte Maité Morren Vlaams Belang Filip Dewinter Barbara Pas Philip Claeys Bert Schoofs Peter Logghe Hilde Roossens Minor parties LDD Jean-Marie Dedecker PVDA+ Peter Mertens Tom De Meester Sander Vandecapelle Kim De Witte Filip Desmet Benjamin Pestieau BUB Vincent Massaut Bic Verbiest Marie-Luce Lovinfosse Tonnie Brichard Mileen Verpoorten Hans Van de Cauter Pirate Party Christophe Cop Jonas De Koning Jo Vols French-speaking constituencies Party Hainaut Liège Luxembourg (Belgium) Luxembourg Namur Walloon Brabant Brussels Major parties cdH Catherine Fonck Melchior Wathelet Benoît Lutgen Benoît Dispa Cédric du Monceau Francis Delpérée Ecolo Jean-Marc Nollet Muriel Gerkens Cécile Thibaut Georges Gilkinet Marcel Cheron Zakia Khattabi FDF Christophe Verbist Hugues Lannoy Serge Saintes Monique Felix Amaury Alexandre Olivier Maingain MR Olivier Chastel Daniel Bacquelaine Dominique Tilmans Sabine Laruelle Charles Michel Didier Reynders PS Elio Di Rupo Willy Demeyer Philippe Courard Jean-Marc Delizée André Flahaut Laurette Onkelinx Minor parties PTB Marco Van Hees Raoul Hedebouw Jonathan Taffarel Thierry Warmoes Liza Lebrun Benjamin Pestieau PP Mischaël Modrikamen Aldo Carcaci Michel Renquin Nathalie Strubbe Michaël Debast Tatiana Hachimi BUB Romuald Joly Nicolas Jacquemin Jo Conter Adrien Mertens Dimitri Parée Hans van de Cauter Pirate Party Paul Bossu Paul Thunissen Opinion polling The results of the opinion polls are usually split into separate numbers for the three Belgian regions. Below, they are transposed to national figures. Date(s)conducted Newspaper N-VAPSCD&VMRsp.aOpen VldVBCDHEcolo Groen Others Lead15 April 2014 La Libre Belgique 20.6% 10.2% 10.7% 8.4% 8.5% 8.7% 6.4% 3.7% 3.9% 4.9% 14.0% 9.9% over CD&V11 October 2013 De Standaard 17.6% – 12.0% – 8.4% 8.7% 6.7% – – 6.3% 40.4% 5.6% over CD&V6 September 2013 La Libre Belgiquehttp://www.lalibre.be/actu/politique-belge/barometre-la-n-va-gagne-2-7-en-flandre-5229bdb635703d8e48d2c206 Baromètre: La N-VA gagne 2.7% en Flandre! Lalibre.be 11 October 2014 22.3% 10.8% 10.9% 8.8% 7.6% 7.5% 7.2% 4.7% 4.7% 4.4% 11.2% 11.4% over CD&V1 September 2013 Le Soir 19.3% 11.3% 10.8% 8.7% 8.0% 8.9% 7.5% 4.5% 4.3% 4.0% 12.5% 8.0% over PS16 June 2013 Le Soirhttp://blog.lesoir.be/docs/2013/06/16/le-ps-en-net-recul-en-wallonie-la-n-va-toujours-loin-devant-en-flandre-2/ Le PS en net recul en Wallonie, la N-VA toujours loin devant en Flandre les documents du Soir 11 October 2014 22.0% 10.5% 9.9% 8.3% 8.7% 8.3% 5.9% 4.6% 4.7% 4.8% 12.1% 11.5% over PS25 May 2013 La Libre Belgiquehttp://www.lalibre.be/actu/politique-belge/article/817618/la-n-va-perd-du-poids-le-ps-en-petite-forme.html La N-VA perd du poids, le PS en petite forme 11 October 2014 20.6% 10.2% 10.0% 8.9% 8.9% 8.1% 8.1% 4.7% 5.4% 4.1% 11.0% 10.4% over PS25 May 2013 De Standaardhttp://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20130524_040 N-VA krijgt een tik De Standaard 11 October 2014 20.2% – 10.9% – 9.3% 6.4% 6.7% – – 6.0% 40.5% 9.3% over CD&V24 March 2013 Le Soirhttp://www.lesoir.be/node/213740 Grand baromètre: la N-VA recule de trois points lesoir.be 11 October 2014 21.2% 11.8% 10.5% 8.6% 8.6% 7.8% 6.6% 5.0% 4.4% 4.9% 10.7% 9.4% over PS16 March 2013 Het Laatste Nieuwshttp://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland/article/detail/1597545/2013/03/16/CD-V-beperkt-de-schade.dhtml CD&V beperkt de schade HLN 11 October 2014 21.0% – 9.4% – 8.5% 7.5% 7.0% – – 5.2% 41.4% 11.6% over CD&V22 February 2013 La Libre Belgiquehttp://www.rtbf.be/info/belgique/detail_barometre-politique-rtbf-la-libre-indecrottable-n-va?id=7933256 Baromètre politique RTBF-La Libre: indécrottable N-VA RTBF Info 11 October 2014 24.3% 10.8% 8.8% 9.0% 9.3% 6.2% 4.2% 4.6% 4.7% 5.4% 12.7% 13.5% over PS14 October 2012 Provincial election 2012http://www.vlaanderenkiest.be/verkiezingen2012 2012 Vlaanderenkiest Vlaanderenkiest.be 11 October 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20160128081229/http://elections2012.wallonie.be/ 28 January 2016 18.0% 11.7% 13.5% 10.2% 8.6% 9.2% 5.6% 6.2% 4.8% 5.3% 6.7% 4.5% over CD&V14 September 2012 De Standaardhttp://www.standaard.be/cnt/DMF20120914_058 Open VLD op dieptepunt De Standaard 11 October 2014 22.6% – 11.5% – 9.0% 6.7% 5.9% – – 4.9% 39.4% 11.1% over CD&V10 June 2010 Federal election 2010 https://web.archive.org/web/20150709023355/http://verkiezingen2010.belgium.be/nl/ 9 July 2015 17.4% 13.7% 10.8% 9.3% 9.2% 8.6% 7.8% 5.5% 4.8% 4.4% 8.4% 3.7% over PS Results At the Flemish side, Vlaams Belang and LDD suffered major losses; their votes went to N-VA, which increased its position as largest party. CD&V, Open Vld and Groen gained slightly as well, while sp.a lost slightly. At the French-speaking side, PS, cdH and Ecolo suffer losses while MR gained as well as newcomers PTB-GO! and FDF. File:Chambredesreps2014.svg New Flemish Alliance 1366397 +2.86 33 +6 Parti Socialiste 787058 –2.03 23 –3 Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams 783040 +0.76 18 +1 Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten 659571 +1.14 14 +1 Mouvement Réformateur 650260 +0.36 20 +2 Socialistische Partij Anders 595466 –0.41 13 0 Groen 358947 +0.94 6 +1 Centre démocrate humaniste 336184 –0.54 9 0 Vlaams Belang 247738 –4.09 3 –9 Ecolo 222524 –1.50 6 –2 Parti du Travail de Belgique-GO ! 132943 New 2 New Francophone Democratic Federalists 121384 New 2 New Partij van de Arbeid+ 118333 +0.94 0 0 People's Party 102581 +0.23 1 0 Debout Les Belges! 58043 New 0 New Libertair, Direct, Democratisch 28414 –1.89 0 –1 La Droite 26035 New 0 New #35205E Pirate Party 23169 New 0 New Faire place Nette 15467 New 0 New #EA3113 ISLAM 13719 New 0 New #227E33 Belgian Union 12103 –0.14 0 0 ROSSEM 11680 New 0 New Wallonie d'Abord 11221 –0.39 0 0 Nation 10216 New 0 New Pirate 9845 New 0 New Rassemblement Wallonie France 7394 –0.44 0 0 Mouvement de Gauche 4529 New 0 New #76B143 Lutte Ouvrière 3539 New 0 New PP Partipensionnes 3178 –0.06 0 0 Front Wallon 3080 New 0 New New Alternative Wallonia 2785 New 0 New Sociaal Democraten & Progressieven 2298 New 0 New #E30512 PP 2281 New 0 New P+ 2254 New 0 New Valeurs Libérales Citoyennes 2028 New 0 New Walloon Rally 1598 New 0 New Gauches Communes 1445 New 0 New Vox Populi Belgica 1280 New 0 New Égalitaires ! 953 New 0 New Partij Voor Gehandicapten en Welzijn 932 New 0 New Parti Libertarien 750 New 0 New MGJOD 460 New 0 New CIM 430 New 0 New MOVE 400 New 0 New Agora Erasmus 382 New 0 New LaLutte-DeStrijd 213 New 0 New 412951 0 8008776 IBZ In detail Dutch-speaking constituencies Bilingual constituency Party Antwerp East Flanders Flemish Brabant Limburg West Flanders Brussels Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats N-VA449,53139.3811306,309 31.036192,69828.375174,03031.395230,26528.506 13,240 2.65 0 CD&V 183,636 16.09 4 177,178 17.95 4 112,251 16.53 3 125,962 22.72 3 175,669 21.74 4 8,193 1.64 0 OPEN VLD 116,892 10.24 2 178,911 18.12 4 170,128 25.05 4 68,713 12.39 2 111,388 13.79 213,2942.660 SP.A 132,096 11.57 3 131,607 13.33 3 81,254 11.96 2 98,194 17.71 2 142,406 17.63 3 9,633 1.93 0 GROEN 112,477 9.85 2 90,144 9.13 2 59,096 8.70 1 33,244 6.00 0 63,657 7.88 1 ECOLO VL. BELANG 79,852 7.00 2 61,523 6.23 1 28,857 4.25 0 34,020 6.14 0 38,232 4.73 0 5,165 1.03 0 PTB/PVDA+ 51,638 4.52 0 26,294 2.66 0 12,664 1.86 0 14,253 2.57 0 13,397 1.66 0 PTB/PVDA–GO! Total 1,141,541 100.00 24 987,205 100.00 20 679,125 100.00 15 554,454 100.00 12 807,929 100.00 16French-speaking constituencies Bilingual constituency Party Hainaut Liège Luxembourg Namur Walloon Brabant Brussels Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats Votes Perc. Seats PS303,08541.049187,93430.005 37,373 22.02 1 83,361 27.83 2 51,359 21.41 1124,05324.865 MR 153,304 20.76 5 158,062 25.23 5 41,346 24.36 184,78828.31297,74140.753 115,049 23.05 4 CDH 76,812 10.40 2 81,789 13.05 256,70233.412 48,135 16.07 1 26,335 10.98 0 46,508 9.32 2 ECOLO 43,489 5.89 1 56,902 9.08 1 13,471 7.94 0 29,186 9.74 1 27,356 11.40 1 52,147 10.45 2 PTB/PVDA–GO! 38,194 5.17 1 50,609 8.08 1 4,003 2.36 0 14,559 4.86 0 6,449 2.69 0 19,142 3.84 0 FDF 14,382 1.95 0 13,917 2.22 0 2,811 1.66 0 8,367 2.79 0 11,198 4.67 0 55,323 11.08 2 PP 32,158 4.35 0 32,237 5.15 1 6,980 4.11 0 13,029 4.35 0 9,544 3.98 0 8,651 1.73 0 Total 738,496 100.00 18 601,826 100.00 15 169,719 100.00 4 299,512 100.00 6 239,869 100.00 5 499,082 100.00 15 Senate 2014 marked the first year when the Senate was no longer directly elected, since the sixth state reform of 2011. Now, the regional parliaments elect 50 senators based on the results of the concurrent regional elections (the Flemish Parliament elects 29, the Parliament of the French Community elects ten, the Walloon Parliament elects eight, the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region elects two Francophone senators and the Parliament of the German-speaking Community elects one). The elected senators in turn co-opt 10 senators (six Dutch-speaking and four Francophone), making a total of 60 senators. The distribution of seats among parties resulted as following:N-VA goed voor één vijfde van de senatoren https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140526_01120616 23 January 2024 De Standaard 26 May 2014 nl File:Senate diagram Belgium 2014.png Elected Co-opted Total +/– New Flemish Alliance 10 2 12 +3 Socialist Party 8 1 9 +2 Christian Democratic and Flemish 7 1 8 +4 Reformist Movement 7 1 8 +4 Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats 4 1 5 +1 Socialist Party Differently 4 1 5 –1 Humanist Democratic Centre 3 1 4 +2 Ecolo 2 1 3 –1 Groen 2 1 3 +2 Vlaams Belang 2 0 2 –1 Party for Freedom and Progress 1 0 1 +1 –11 Government formation 2014 Belgian government formation On 27 May, King Philippe nominated Bart De Wever (N-VA) as informateur, meaning he is tasked with finding enough points of agreement for a possible coalition.Bart De Wever nommé informateur par le Roi LaLibre.be 27 May 2014 http://www.lalibre.be/actu/politique-belge/bart-de-wever-nomme-informateur-par-le-roi-53846ca33570af48fcf53a16 After five months of discussions, a centre-right coalition of four parties (CD&V, Open Vld, MR and N-VA) came to agreement on 7 October with Walloon Charles Michel as prime minister. Yet it is a Flanders-focused coalition that excludes Socialists from the government for the first time in 26 years.http://www.dw.de/belgium-agrees-to-form-coalition-government/a-17981531 Belgium agrees to form coalition government Deutsche Welle 11 October 2014 Michel would be Belgium's youngest prime minister after the 28 hours of discussions over achieving a balanced budget by 2018. The announcement was made by party colleague and Budget Minister Olivier Chastel on Twitter: "Charles Michel becomes prime minister."http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-belgium-government-idUKKCN0HW21K20141007 https://web.archive.org/web/20160819012001/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-belgium-government-idUKKCN0HW21K20141007 dead 19 August 2016 Belgium on course for government led by youngest PM Uk.reuters.com 11 October 2014 References 30em External links 2014 elections, belgium.be Category:2014 elections in Belgium Category:May 2014 in Europe Category:Federal elections in Belgium