Belgian voters ditch Greens

Greens were wiped off the map in Flanders

Belgium's Green Party has lost its seat in the governing coalition in a general election which also saw advances for the far-right.

Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is expected to rebuild a coalition with the socialists, who, with the Greens, formed the three-way coalition before Sunday's poll.

The Liberals and Socialists between them have taken at least 97 of the 150 seats in parliament, more than enough to continue in power without the Greens.

Voters have given us the mandate to continue our work of modernisation and change in this country in the next few years

Guy Verhofstadt

The far-right Vlaams Blok, which wants Flemish independence, boosted its number of seats from 15 to 18, after its share of the vote rose around four percentage points to an estimated 19% in Flanders.

The party, which campaigned on ending immigration and cracking down on crime, is said to have picked up support in rural areas as well as in its urban heartlands.

The result was the best in the party's 25-year history.

The party's president Frank Vanhecke said the party had scored a "historic victory" and demanded the other parties lift their "cordon sanitaire" which bans dealings with the far-right group.

The francophone National Front is also reported to have made in-roads in some areas of French-speaking Wallonia, Belgium's former industrial heartland.

The Green support, meanwhile, collapsed. The party lost all nine seats in Flanders, and seven out of 11 in Wallonia.

Green campaigns against night flights over Brussels, arms exports to Nepal and tobacco advertising are believed to have alienated many voters.

The Christian Democrats, led by Stefaan De Clerck, also performed poorly.

The Socialists performed strongly in both Flanders and Wallonia, picking up an extra 13 seats, and the Liberals got an extra eight seats.

Mr Verhofstadt expressed his delight at the election outcome.

"This is a fantastic result," he told cheering supporters of his Flemish Liberal party. "The government emerges stronger from these election results.

Filip de Winter's Vlaams Blok made large gains

Far right's rise

"Voters have given us the mandate to continue our work of modernisation and change in this country in the next few years."

Up to 10% of voters were reported to have abstained from the ballot in certain areas, despite Belgium's compulsory voting system.

The previous coalition brought in a range of reforms in a once socially conservative country - legalising gay marriages and euthanasia and decriminalising cannabis.

Mr Verhofstadt says Belgium's economy has performed well in comparison with other European countries, but unemployment remains high.

Belgium is divided between the more prosperous and populous Dutch-speaking region in the north, and Wallonia.

Most parties are similarly split on linguistic lines, and governments must represent both linguistic groups.