The leader of Dutch-speaking nationalist party N-VA on Sunday claimed victory in Belgium's snap elections just four hours after polls closed, with 50 per cent of the votes counted, dpa reported.
"We won the vote today. We are the biggest party in (Dutch-speaking) Flanders ... This is an historic moment," Bart De Wever told Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT.
De Wever's party campaigned to end Belgium's status as a federal state and to turn it into a loose confederation of Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia.
With returns in from half the 6,134 polling stations, the N-VA's share of the national vote stood at 21.53 per cent, 8 points clear of their nearest rivals.