Gains for NVA in Belgian local elections

Bart De Wever’s N-VA has called for greater autonomy for Flanders in the wake of yesterday’s local election results. De Wever won Antwerp’s mayoral election and said he would work for even bigger gains for separatists at the 2014 national elections, claiming last night’s results represented “the most comprehensive electoral victory since World War Two”. De Wever’s win in Antwerp has ended 90 years of socialist dominance in Flanders’ largest city and his focus will now turn to the general election of 2014, when Belgium’s six million Flemings will have to decide whether to support a party apparently intent on dividing Belgium on linguistic lines. De Wever’s victory in Antwerp is likely to have an impact on a federal level, far beyond the local and regional scope of yesterday’s polls.