Belgian vote results show big separatist gains
By RAF CASERTBy RAF CASERT, Associated Press?
?A worker stamps voting cards at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A worker stamps voting cards at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Leader of the NVA party Bart De Wever, center, waits in line to cast his vote at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Leader of the NVA party Bart De Wever, top, waits in line to cast his vote at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
Leader of the NVA party Bart De Wever receives his voting card at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A woman prepares to leave her booth after casting her vote at a polling station in Antwerp, Belgium, on Sunday Oct. 14, 2012. NVA, a separatist party, wants to use Antwerp as a base for breaking away from Belgium, putting it in the forefront of a European breakaway trend just as the EU celebrates winning the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering continental unity. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? The mayor of Europe's second biggest port city has conceded electoral defeat to a leader who has vowed to seek autonomy for Belgium's wealthy Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.
Bart De Wever's NV-A party made big gains in elections seen as a gauge of separatist sentiment. De Wever was on the cusp of becoming mayor of Antwerp, which he has promised to use as a base for a bigger challenge from Flemish separatists during national elections in 2014.
Socialist incumbent Patrick Janssens said Sunday that "we have lost the elections, the initiative is now up to Mr. De Wever. We call on him to put the city at the center of his attention."
De Wever has been at odds with Belgium's economically ailing French-speaking Wallonia for years.
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