Belgium has initiated the process of forming a new government following elections that saw centre-right parties gaining prominence across the nation, a rare occurrence.

In Sunday's regional and national elections, the conservative New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) retained its decade-long control in Dutch-speaking Flanders, finishing ahead of the far-right Vlaams Belang, which took second place.

Meanwhile, in the French-speaking Wallonia region, the centre-right Reformist Movement broke through the long-standing dominance of the Socialist Party, also securing first place in Brussels.

On Monday, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, whose party Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats suffered a major loss in support, tendered his resignation to King Philippe as part of the customary procedure.

"This is a very difficult evening for us. We have lost this election," De Croo stated, taking full responsibility for the defeat.

N-VA leader Bart De Wever, who is currently the mayor of Antwerp, is likely to be the frontrunner for the next prime ministerial candidate, as his party won the most seats (24) in the 150-seat federal parliament.

"We are moving away from the traditional Belgian narrative of the past 50 years, where Flanders is right-leaning and Wallonia is left-leaning," Vincent Laborderie, a professor at UCLouvain university, told the AFP news agency.

"There appears to be a structural shift in the electorate towards the centre-right."

In the coming months, Belgium's political parties will attempt to establish a governing coalition between the predominantly right-of-centre parties of the Dutch-speaking north and the more left-leaning parties of the French-speaking south.

Belgium, with its complex regional and national system, has a notorious history of prolonged coalition talks, with negotiations taking 541 days in 2010-2011.

"In theory, this time it should go faster," Laborderie commented, though he still projected that it would take about six months to reach a conclusion.

In the interim, De Croo will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister.