1847 Belgian general election

Partial general elections were held in Belgium on 8 June 1847.[1] The result was a victory for the new Liberal Association, which had been formed the previous year.[2] It won 33 seats to the Catholics' 21, as the latter were split into dogmatic and liberal groups.[2] Voter turnout was 77%,[3] although only 1% of the country's population was eligible to vote.[4]

1847 Belgian general election

8 June 1847 (1847-06-08)

54 of the 108 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
55 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Charles Rogier Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt
Party Liberal Catholic
Leader since Candidate for PM Candidate for PM
Seats won 33 21
Seats after 55 53
Popular vote 9,142 8,298
Percentage 52.12% 47.31%

Government before election

de Theux de Meylandt II
Catholic

Elected Government

Rogier I
Liberal

Under the alternating system, Chamber elections were only held in four out of the nine provinces: East Flanders, Hainaut, Liège and Limburg. Thus, 54 of the 108 Chamber seats were up for election. The total number of Chamber seats increased from 98 to 108 following a reapportionment due to population increases.

While the liberals gained a majority in the Chamber, the Catholics retained theirs in the Senate. Following the election, the Catholic government led by Barthélémy de Theux de Meylandt resigned. After a political crisis of two months, a liberal government was formed on 12 August 1847, headed by Charles Rogier. The liberals would go on to win the 1848 elections.

Results

Chamber of Representatives

Party Votes % Seats
Won Total
Liberal Association9,14252.13355
Catholics8,29847.32153
Others1010.600
Invalid/blank votes1,365
Total18,90610054108
Registered voters/turnout22,57277.7
Source: Mackie & Rose

Senate

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Catholics320
Liberal Association20+7
Others20
Total54+7
Sternberger et al.

References

  1. Codebook Constituency-level Elections Archive, 2003
  2. Nohlen, Dieter; Stöver, Philip (31 May 2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. p. 270. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
  3. Thomas T Mackie & Richard Rose (1991) The International Almanac of Electoral History, Macmillan, p46
  4. Sternberger, D, Vogel, B & Nohlen, D (1969) Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band I: Europa - Erster Halbband, p105
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.