(13 Jun 2010)
1. Wide exterior of polling station
2. Mid of NVA (New Flemish Alliance) leader Bart de Wever going in voting booth
3. Mid of people in voting station
4. De Wever coming out of booth and posing for photographs
5. Cutaway photographers
6. Mid of de Wever putting his card in box
7. Wide of De Wever and media walking outside polling station
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bart de Wever, NVA leader:
"We would like to see direction of the step towards confederalism because we see that federalism just has not worked, this country is totally blocked we need urgent policies concerning immigration, concerning justice, concerning the budget, and we have seen nothing in the last three years, so reforms are needed, quite urgently."
9. Mid of de Wever's car leaving
STORYLINE:
NVA (New Flemish Alliance) leader Bart de Wever, whose party is expected to be a big winner in Belgium's general election, cast his vote in Antwerp on Sunday.
The election is widely seen as a vote on an orderly break-up of this country where 6.5 (m) million Dutch- and 4 (m) million French-speakers are locked in a quarrelsome union.
Polls have predicted a solid showing for de Wever's mainstream Flemish party which has campaigned for the separation of Dutch-speaking Flanders from Francophone Wallonia.
De Wever, 39, who could become Belgium's next premier, wants Flanders to eventually join the European Union as a separate country.
"We would like to see direction of the step towards confederalism because we see that federalism just has not worked," he said.
De Wever wants to shift the national government's last remaining powers, notably justice, health and social security, to Flanders and Wallonia.
That would complete 30 years of ever greater self-rule for the two regions.
De Wever told reporters outside the polling station in Antwerp that policy change was needed on immigration, justice and finance "and we have seen nothing in the last three years, so reforms are needed, quite urgently."
There are no comparable separatist sentiments in the French-speaking region.
A split of the two regions would be a nightmare scenario for poorer Wallonia, which greatly depends on Flemish funds, and shows how linguistic disputes dominate national politics.
Voting is mandatory. Some 7.7 (m) million Belgians were to cast ballots at 10,630 voting stations.
Polling opened for seven hours at 0600GMT.
Elections were called one year early after Premier Yves Leterme's five-party coalition fell apart on 26 April in a dispute over a bilingual voting district.
That spat has gone unresolved since 2003 and pushed the NVA - a tiny, centrist party only a few years ago - into pole position: it is forecast to win a quarter of the vote in Flanders.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/f24d51df5d509638c07418ed174e68ae