A demonstrator's placard reading 'Govern or get out' at a protest marking 541 days without a government for the Brussels region NICOLAS TUCAT

Hundreds of Brussels residents took to the streets Monday to protest as the failure of squabbling politicians to form a regional city government topped a previous 541-day Belgian record.

Going that long is quite a feat even in a country where painful political negotiations are almost as much a part of the national culture as beer, chocolate and chips.

Split between its rival language camps, Belgium's complex political patchwork has long been seen as borderline dysfunctional.

In 2010-2011 it took an unprecedented 541 days to form a federal government.

But the deadlock in the Brussels region -- which covers some 1.2 million inhabitants and is ho

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