(Cross-posted at The Rambling Weatherdude)
Ah yes, Belgium. Creator of the Belgian waffle. Homeland of Dr. Evil. Birthplace of the french fry. Such a small, beautiful country nestled in the bosom of France, Luxembourg, Germany, and the Netherlands. Citizens of such a small and wondrous country surely have happy lives in this happy little spot in Europe, right?
Nah, screw that shit.
Belgium is split into two main regions, the northern of which is called Flanders and the southern of which is called Wallonia. The northern, whose citizens are called Flanders (or Flemmish), speak Dutch. The southern, whose citizens are called Walloons, speak French. Here in Murka, we ain't be likin' nobody who don't speak r langwidge (which, in Belgium, are officially Dutch, French and German) Belgium is kind of the same way. There are more Flemmish-Dutch speaking people in Belgium than there are Walloon-French speaking people. As we know here in America, people with major cultural differences don't get along too well. Accordingly, Flanders and Wallonia have a fair amount of self rule away from the Belgian government, which is a goddamn wet dream to the conservatives in this country. Over the years, each of the two regions was given greater and greater control over its own affairs, but Flanders wants complete control over itself.
(Belgium, on left shown in Europe, enlarged on right. Darker blue region is Flanders and the hot pink region is Wallonia. Map from Wikipedia.)
Where am I going with this? Oh, right. The Belgian elections are being held today to see who has the most political muscle. Worried about turnout? Fugetaboutit. Voting is compulsory in Belgium, so take that you lazy asses! 7.7 million voters will hike to over ten thousand polling places to cast their ballot in a seven hour window. There are 6.5 million Dutch speakers in Belgium, and only 4 million Francophones. This does not bode well for the political ambitions of the Walloons.
The party that is expected to win with a pretty comfortable mandate, the New Flemish Alliance, is rather cozy to the idea of splitting the country in two. The split is a win-lose situation. For Flanders, it's a win-win. They get their own country, they get to keep their money, and don't have to worry about the Walloons anymore. For Wallonia, it's a major loss. The region of Belgium is relatively poor and relies heavily on the Flanders region for economic support, and the splitting of the country would wreak havoc on its already shaky economy.
The split of Belgium isn't set in stone, but the election of the New Flemish Alliance to power could spark another rewrite of history. We'll know more when the polls close later this afternoon...
UPDATE: Shortly after I published this, breaking news came across Twitter with the news that the seperatist party New Flemish Alliance (mentioned above) has indeed won the elections with 30% of the voting share in Parliament, leading the way to a potential breakup of the country.
http://www.forexpros.com/...
Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Mandatory Simpsons Joke:
I propose that Flanders uses this as their new, official flag: