Description of Electoral System

(Courtesy of IFES election guide)

The monarchy is hereditary. In the Senate (Senaat / Senat), 40 members are elected by direct popular vote to serve a 4-year term and 31 members are elected by indirect vote to serve a 4-year term. In Chamber of Deputies (Volksvertegenwoordigers / Chambre des Representants), 150 members are elected by popular vote via proportional representation to serve a 4-year term.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION-RELATED STATS FOR BELGIUM? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Voting in Belgium

(Courtesy of wikipedia)

Voting is compulsory in Belgium; more than 90% of the population participates. Belgian voters are given five options when voting. They may:

• Vote for a list as a whole, thereby showing approval of the order established by the party they vote for;
• Vote for one or more individual candidates belonging to one party, regardless of his/her ranking on the list. This is a "preference vote;"
• Vote for one or more of the "alternates (substitutes);"
• Vote for one or more candidates, and one or more alternates, all of the same party; or
• Vote invalid or blank so no one receives the vote

Most Recent Election

(Courtesy of wikipedia)

2009 European Parliament Elections

The European Parliament Elections of 2009 took place on June 7. As a result of the Treaty of Nice - that became active in December 2004 - the number of Belgian delegates decreased from 24 (in year 2004) to 22. 13 delegates were elected by the Dutch-speaking Electoral College, 8 delegates by the Francophone Electoral College and 1 by the German-speaking Electoral College.

Turnout in the elections across Belgium were high at 90.93 percent of registered voters. In both the Dutch-speaking and the German-speaking Electoral College, a Christian Democratic party became the biggest party (Christen-Democatisch en Vlaams and Christlich-Soziale Partei respectively) with both having the same affiliation in the European Parliament (EPP - Conservative). However, they both lost votes compared to the last election, CDV declined 4.89 and CSP 10.23 percentage points. In the French-speaking Electoral College, the biggest party was the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste), who recieved 29.10 percent of the votes in the French-speaking electorate, and gained three seats in the European Parliament. Compared to the previous election, also this party dropped in voter support, dropping by roughly 7 percentage points.

As for the parties that gained in support, the Durch Electoral College saw New-Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie), a centre-right secessionist party, climbed roughly 10 percentage points, while in the French-speaking counterpart, the green party "Ecolo" gained 13.3 percentage points in voter support.

Past Elections

(Courtesy of wikipedia)

2007 General Elections

The 2007 Belgian general election took place on Sunday, June 10, 2007. Voters went to the polls in order to elect new members for the Chamber of Representatives and Senate.

Of the Flemish parties, the alliance of Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V) and the New-Flemish Alliance  (N-VA) received an increased share of the vote from the previous election, held in 2003. The CD&V/N-VA list was headed by Yves Leterme, and became the largest political formation in Belgium, thus leading the coalition talks for a new government.

Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) received more votes than in the previous election, but lost one seat. Green was able to return to parliament and newcomers List Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker) surprised most by immediately grabbing six seats, including one in the Senate.

Prime minister Guy Verhofstadt´s "purple coalition," consisting of his Open Flemish Liberal Democrats (Open) alliance list and Socialist Party – Different (SP.A/SPIRIT), was punished in the election, with the SP.A/SPIRIT alliance losing somewhat more than Verhofstadt's Open VLD alliance. The day after the election, Verhofstadt handed in the resignation of his government to King Albert II. SP.A leader Johan Vande Lanotte resigned from his leadership position as well that day.