Belgium's parliament has given the go-ahead for new election rules that have divided the country. It has approved a bill that grants non-European Union immigrants the right to vote in local elections. It is a delicate subject in a country where the government needs a majority in Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia in order to rule. Most Flemish parties opposed the change, but almost all the francophone parties were in favour. Within Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's coalition government, three of the four language-based parties of liberals and socialists backed the bill, while his own Flemish liberals were against it. Experts say the law is likely to affect about 120-thousand non-EU residents in a country of 10 million. Already in 2000, policies were relaxed to allow thousands of foreigners to take up Belgian citizenship.