During the first Jour months of 1988, Belgium witnessed the painstaking formation of the Martens VIII center-left Cabinet. In October 1987, the Christian Democratic-Liberal Martens VI Cabinet had been forced to resign over the perennial Fourons affairs. After the parliamentary elections of December 1987 which had resulted in a Socialist victory, the center-left Martens VIII Cabinet wassworn in on May 9, 1989, marking the end of a political crisis which had lasted 147 days; i.e., the longest crisis in Belgian history. During the remaining months of 1988, the new Government sought parliamentary approval for its ambitious constitutional reform program, having very little time left for continuing the economie recovery policy started under the Martens VI Cabinet. During the second half of 1988, relations between Belgium and Zaire deteriorated.

In the Flemish region the greatest losers are the Flemish nationalists VU and the Socialist Party, followed by de christian-democrats of the CVP. The liberal party PVV, the ecologist AGALEV and the extreme right-wing Vlaams Blok (particularly in the city ofAntwerp) are the winners. The results of the Walloon region show a gain for the socialists (PS), christian-democrats (PSC) and the ecologists (ECOLO) and a sligtly liberal (PRL) recede. The high number of winners is caused by the disapearrance of the socialist-Walloon nationalist alliances and the anti-tax party UDR T. Another important factor is the fall in of the walloon nationalist party RW. The elections in the Brussels region are characterized by the further set-back of the once so strong French-speaking party FDF. The three traditional political families and the ecologists benefit by this decline. In Flanders the christian-democrats and the socialists profit by their participation in the boards of mayor and aldermen (the local majorities), in the Walloons the socialists. The data concerning the profits by this participations show no evidence for the other parties.