Yves Leterme, ex-prime minister of Belgium – now caretaker prime minister of Belgium.

Belgium has gone one year since their last elections on 13 June 2010 without an official government. Coalition negotiations have dragged on and on, and are still happening as we speak. In the meantime, the country has had to make do with a caretaker prime minister. Come August, Yves Leterme will have held the position of care taker prime minister for a longer time than when he was the actual prime minister! Go democracy.

The problem has arisen because of the deep divisions between the Dutch-speaking (Flemish) and French-speaking halves of the population, and the lack of any truly national parties.

Belgians proudly claimed the world record in February already for the country that has spent longest without a government. A website counted down to the day – 17 February – when the title would be taken from Iraq, which took 289 days to form a government in 2009. The site now proclaims: “Yes, Belgians, we did it!”

Yes, you did.

[Source: BBC News]