Today, Belgians from the nation's six million Dutch-speaking Flemings from the north and the 4.5 million Francophones from Wallonia's south began voting at 8 a.m., with polls favoring Christian Democrats who have been on a two-term hiatus.

A recent poll by TNS predicted that the Flemish Christian Democratic CD&V/NVA would surge from 25.8 percent to 29.9 percent, effectively putting Yves Leterme, in pole position to claim the premiership. Leterme was confident after he voted, telling RTL: "I slept better last night than the night before.... We'll see what responsabilities voters want to give us."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, still hopes for a third term after eight years in office, but that seems hardly possible. "Whether tax cuts, or reducing unemployment, we need reforms. I hope voters will understand," Verhofstadt told television channel RTL after casting his ballot.

The Belgian politics is divided through the country's French-Dutch language faultline. Belgium, with 10.5 million people, has no unified national political parties. In Dutch-speaking Flanders, 60 percent of the population live, with the rest in French-speaking southern Wallonia. Inevitably, due to the population difference, the prime minister comes from one of the majority Flemish parties.