The Weak Government Hypothesis states that government fragmentation leads to higher public deficits and debt. This relation can be explained by government inaction or common pool problems that arise in coalition governments. We test this hypothesis using a large panel of data on municipal debt in 296 Flemish municipalities (1977-2000). We find that there is no long-run effect from weak governments. However, there is general support for the fact that the number of parties in a coalition has a positive effect on the municipality’s shortterm debt levels.