Meanwhile in Belgium...

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What a country...

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Has a government been formed yet?

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When will people really start to be pissed and it will be violent?

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I actually support Flemish independence now after hearing the "horror-stories" of Belgian governmental infrastructure.

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I don't understand why the Flemish douchebag parties are doing this when they need to form a government.

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To think that this is in Europe, not a Banana Republic...

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How long until they can have another set of elections?  This clearly isn't working.

Elections would only prolong the deadlock. The Flemish right (NVA, Dedecker) stand to make gains, atleast on the 2009 results; and the French Greenies also stand to make major gains, still on 2009 results.

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Ah, proof in point.

La Libre/RTBF's monthly poll from end of March 2010

Flanders
CDA 20 (-2.2)
NVA 17.9 (+2.9)
Vlaams Belang 17.3 (+0.2)
SP.A 15.5 (+1.6)
Open VLD 13.8 (-0.2)
Groen 8.1 (+0.9)
Dedecker 5.5 (-1.7)

http://download.saipm.com/pdf/libre/FLAN_BARRES.pdf
and: http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2010/04/03/en-belgique-les-partis-flamands-qui-pronent-l-independance-de-leur-region-progressent-dans-l-opinion_1328303_3214.html

Wallonia
PS 31.7 (-1.2)
MR 20.5 (-1)
Ecolo 20.2 (+0.9)
cdH 15.5 (+0.9)
PP 4.3 (+1.2) - a new right-wing liberal outfit
FN 3.7 (+0.4)

http://download.saipm.com/pdf/libre/WAL_BARRES.pdf

Bruxelles
PS 25 (+4.7)
MR 24.6 (-0.7)
Ecolo 15.6 (-4.3)
cdH 12.1 (-0.5)
PP 3.9 (+0.4)
Open VLD 3 (+0.2)
SP.A 1.9 (-0.3)
FN 1.5 (nc)
CDV 1.5 (-0.2)
NVA 1.1 (+0.2)
Groen 1.1 (-0.2)
Vlaams Belang 0.4 (-0.4)
Dedecker 0.4 (-0.3)

http://download.saipm.com/pdf/libre/BRUX_BARRES.pdf

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Thanks for the background, Verily.

So, unless I've misunderstood the earlier posts, Belgium cannot hold a legitimate election until the dispute over Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde is resolved?  That might take years, surely?

But not holding an election in 2011 would in turn violate Article 65 of the Belgian Constitution, which mandates elections every four years. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

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Could they have some neutral party draw the boundary? Like the Constitutional Court?

The President of the Constitutional Court is Flemish. Make of that what you will.

Plus, I don't think there are many solutions to the boundaries that are realistic.

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Fun!

Though it only spells worse troubles for Belgium if the Flemish nationalists do as well as polls seem to predict.

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How are they going to have an election with the boundary dispute unsettled?

It really calls for a Belgian joke.

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Flanders hates French people more and more everyday, it seems. Unsurprisingly, Flemish people in BHV are even more anti-Francophone (just like the Flemings in Bruxelles, where VB used to the top the community poll).

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N-VA?

New Flemish Alliance. A less openly racist and fascist Flemish nationalist party which was associated with the CDV until 2008. They seem to be coalescing a majority of the nationalist vote around them, to the detriment of Vlaams Belang and Dedecker's ephemeral outfit.