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| - It took a devastating global epidemic to focus political minds, but on Thursday Belgian lawmakers finally gave a vote of confidence to a government set up to fight the coronavirus. Formerly just a caretaker leader, Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes will now lead a government with parliamentary backing, the country's first since December 2018, with power to set policy and issue decrees. Nine of the political parties in the fractious bilingual kingdom fell in behind the liberal leader -- although the powerful Dutch-speaking nationalist N-VA refused to back her. Leading N-VA figure Theo Francken even denounced what he called a "corona dictatorship" and his party -- the biggest in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north -- dubbed Wilmes' majority "illegitimate". The rival Socialist party from the French-speaking south had refused to form a coalition with the conservative N-VA and on Thursday 84 members of parliament out of 150 backed the new government. "In this unprecedented situation we absolutely must work together," Wilmes said ahead of the vote. Belgium had been without a ruling majority for more than a year because the N-VA withdrew support from former premier Charles Michel while pushing for a tougher anti-immigrant stance. Elections were called in May last year, but only produced advances for the Greens and the extremes of right and left, further complicating efforts at coalition building. But Belgium, per capita, has been one of the worst hit countries in Europe during the coronavirus epidemic, leading many politicians to put aside their differences -- for now. mad/dc/pdw
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