We have national elections every four years, regional elections every five years (held on the same day as the European elections) and local elections every six years. In practice this means that we elected the Flemish Parliament in 2009, will elect the federal parliament in 2011 and in 2012 there will be local elections. No wonder everyone looks forward to the break!

Some politicians, socialists and liberals mainly, favour so-called concurring elections, whereby both the region and federal parliaments are elected on the same day. The main advantage would be that this would stop the everlasting electoral fever that plagues many politicians, on both sides of the language divide, making it almost impossible to make tough decisions.

Christian Democrats and Flemish nationalists oppose this idea of concurring elections. They believe that with separate elections the voters will gradually gain a better understanding of the federal and regional governments and parliaments – both in terms of what they are and what they do. But, no matter how much media coverage each election gets, most citizens remain confused. The politicians themselves are part of the problem, as some of them are constantly hopping from one level to the other, taking part in every single election, even if they have no intention of taking up their seat in the respective parliament.

So, will a year without elections be a year of increased stability? Chances are slim, as the federal government wants to solve the prickly issue of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, the bilingual constituency that the Flemish feel should be split. The federal government wants a solution by June, when Belgium takes on the European presidency, to avoid a bitter dispute between language groups at that time.

Just to make sure, former prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene (CD&V), one of the most respected Belgian politicians in history, has been asked to take on this task. If he cannot solve this, then no-one can, is the popular belief. And if he cannot do this, then there is another thing that awaits us in 2010 – the end of the Leterme federal government and new elections after all.