Most Belgians against snap elections, survey finds

The majority of Belgian voters do not want snap elections early in the new year - and would rather wait for a new federal government to be formed in May, a new poll has found.

Six out of 10 respondents in a survey commissioned by RTL this week said that Belgium's federal elections should go ahead as planned at the same time as the regional and European ballot on 26 May 2019. About 20% of those surveyed were keen to head to the polls in January, and the rest had no opinion either way.

King Philippe has spent the past two days meeting the presidents of each of the political parties in parliament, after prime minister Charles Michel offered his government's resignation on Tuesday evening.

The king is due to meet Michel again on Friday morning. He could either decide to maintain the status quo until May with a caretaker prime minister - or call early elections.

In the RTL poll of 1,000 people nationwide, 56% of respondents said the Flemish N-VA party was responsible for the fall of the government.

Photo: Jasper Jacobs/Belga