How's your maths? With the public having played their part in the democratic exercise it's now back to the politicians to make what they can with the seats allocated. But the plurality of parties in Belgium means that mustering a majority requires participation from several partners, often ideologically diverging.
To refresh, the numbers: a majority in the Federal Parliament requires 76 seats; in Brussels it's 45 seats; a majority in Flanders needs 63; in Wallonia it's 38. Keep these close to hand as there's no fiddling the figures. National news websites are running infographics that allow users to try making up majorities by selecting the governing partners. If you're bored of sudoku you can try it yourself.
This is not to say that the rhetoric has been put on ice; rather that the messaging has been turned around. Case in point: Georges-Louis Bouchez, whose francophone liberal party MR emerged the biggest party in Brussels and Wallonia. This puts him in the hot seat for brokering deals.
After months of bashing rivals – plenty of them also coalition partners in De Croo's Vivaldi government – Bouchez woke up Monday morning a changed man, bouncing into national radio studios to extend sentiments of cooperation to other political groups. Eager to roll with the momentum of a popular shift away from socialist stasis (as he portrays it), Bouchez was respectful, at times even flattering towards other parties.
But though yesterday's adversaries might today be seen as allies, there are limits to how much ground parties are prepared to give. Whilst some will be discussing how they could agree to govern together, others have ruled themselves out of possible coalitions – early calls that both simplify and complicate the calculation.
After sustaining significant losses, the Dutch-speaking liberals Open VLD and the francophone Socialist Party have both said they will take a term in the opposition. This removes them from the equation but also deprives would-be partners of their seats. Elsewhere, smaller parties are seeing themselves as kingmakers, with the chance of amplifying their numerically small voice through government.
But how long will we consider the variations before something sticks? Let @Orlando_tbt know.
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