#world

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever offered his resignation to King Philippe on Monday, November 2, after his five-party coalition failed to agree on the 2027 budget and a roughly €10 billion savings plan through 2029. The palace said the king "is holding his decision in suspense" and would consult the majority parties' leaders from Tuesday; De Wever was due back at the palace on Friday, November 6, after the cutoff. The king warned that "the country cannot afford a prolonged political crisis."

The dispute reportedly pits the francophone center-right MR against the centre-left Vooruit and Les Engagés, according to the Belga news agency as cited by Eunews. Belgium ran a deficit of 5% of GDP last year against the EU's 3% ceiling and is under an EU excessive deficit procedure. Under Belgium's constitution the king can refuse the resignation, keep it pending to give the parties time, or accept it and leave a caretaker government with limited powers. In November 2025, De Wever instead asked for a 50-day extension. Unions have called a national strike for November 23.

Israel's elections commission said on Wednesday, November 4, that it had investigated all parties' fraud claims about the October 27 vote and found "no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supporters had claimed, without evidence, that Arab-led parties "stole" the election. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.

President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results and began consultations with party leaders. Neither Netanyahu's coalition (53 seats) nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's bloc (48) has the 61 needed to govern; Arab-led parties won a record 19. Ra'am said it would recommend Eisenkot, bringing his expected support to 56, per Ynet; the Joint List's 11 seats could push him past 61. Degel HaTorah said it would back neither man. Once talks end, Herzog picks a nominee, who gets 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. He urged both camps to compromise to avoid another election.