Belgium breaks 16-month deadlock, gets new prime minister.

Belgium is finally getting a new government on Wednesday, 16 months after the country conducted its parliamentary election.

The Belgian king, Leopold Ludwig Maria, is expected to name caretaker finance minister, Alexander De Croo, as the new prime minister.

Following weeks of talks, seven parties spanning the French-Dutch language divide have agreed to form a governing coalition to replace the caretaker administration of Sophie Wilmes, who led Belgium through six months of the COVID-19 crisis.

Belgium has one of the world’s highest COVID-19 fatalities per capita.

The death toll passed 10,000 on Wednesday.

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Mr De Croo is set to lead the new government, Belgian newspapers including daily Le Soir reported, citing anonymous sources.

Paul Magnette, leader of the French-speaking Socialists, said on Twitter that he was heading to the palace to form a government with other parties.

Belgium had been under a caretaker administration since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in March and without a fully fledged government since December 2018, when a four-party coalition collapsed.