2009-06-07 21:14:05 -

BRUSSELS (AP) - The anti-immigrant, far-right Flemish Interest party has suffered its biggest setback in a quarter century in regional and European elections in Belgium Sunday, according to preliminary results.
With about two thirds of votes counted the Christian Democratic CD&V of Prime Minister Herman van Rompuy emerged as the big party in Dutch-speaking Flanders with almost 25 percent of the votes, while the PS socialists remain top in Francophone Wallonia with almost 33 percent, despite a sizable loss of 4 percent.
«It is a great result for my party,» Van Rompuy said, adding he saw no immediate need for a change in his national coalition grouping five parties, including the CD&V and PS.
The results say Flemish Interest has lost about 9 points to fall to 15 percent. The Flemish nationalist NVA party and the populist LDD are among the biggest winners, taking the void left by Flemish Interest.
«We have been beaten up, but we are not knocked out,» Flemish Interest leader Filip Dewinter said. «There is a fragmentation on the right, and we are no longer alone,» he said.
Flemish Interest strives for Flemish independence in the nation of northern Flanders with 6 million and a Francophone south with 4.5 million people.
And the NVA, with an expected 14.5 percent of the vote, will be active on the language front too.

Its leader Bart De Wever said that «Now it is time for Flemish assertiveness» and look for more ways to keep spending regionalized in Flemish hands. The Francophone parties traditionally want decision-making as much as possible at a national level.
If the Flemish Interest collapse was the story in Flanders, the rise of the green party Ecolo stood out in Wallonia. The election was expected to be a fight for dominance between a slumping PS and the liberal MR party. The PS lost but the MR failed to profit, losing almost 1 point to fall to 23 percent.
The Ecolo party instead more than doubled its vote and stood at around 18.5 percent.