Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo announces resignation

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo announced plans to resign after the defeat of his party, the liberal Open VLD, in the federal elections held June 9.

Belgium held a national vote on the 150 legislative seats in the Chamber of Represenatatives on June 9, the same day as its European parliamentary elections.

"Tomorrow I will resign as prime minister," de Croo said, with 90% of the votes counted.

The conservative party N-VA led the vote, with a projected win of 24 seats in the Chamber of Representatives. The far-right Vlaams Belang party is projected to win 20. In third place, the liberal Mouvement Reformateur (MR) party is projected to take 19 seats.

N-VA's victory appears to have staved off a takeover by Vlaams Belang, a Flemish nationalist party that aims to break up Belgium into two countries.

Over the next months, the parties will enter talks to form a governing coalition.

Despite the heavy defeat handed to De Croo's party, he expressed hope for future elections.

"But the Liberals are strong, we will return," he said.

In March, de Croo spoke out against Russian propaganda campaigns disseminated through a website called Voice of Europe. Two Vlaams Belang MPs, Filip Dewinter and Filip Brusselmans, gave an interview to Voice of Europe in September 2023.

"Russia wants to destroy our democracy," de Croo said, saying that Czech and Belgian intelligence showed that European and Belgian lawmakers were paid to spread  pro-Kremlin propaganda.

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