Belgian PM resigns

BRUSSELS - Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme Thursday resigned after the Flemish Liberal Open VLD party withdrew its support for the ruling coalition.

Finance Minister Didier Reynders told reporters that there was no other choice for the prime minister but to resign after the Flemish liberal party quit, Xinhua reported.

With the withdrawal of the party, Leterme’s government holds only 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, a slim majority but would be hard for him to govern.

Open VLD said it had been frustrated by the government’s failure to solve the dispute between the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking communities in Belgium.