1900 Belgian general election

Full general elections were held in Belgium on 27 May 1900.[1]

1900 Belgian general election

27 May 1900
All 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Paul de Smet de Naeyer August De Winne Party Catholic Labour Liberal Leader since Candidate for PM 1899 Seats before 108 seats 15 seats 13 seats Seats won 86 32 31 Seat change 22 17 18 Popular vote 993,945 461,295 464,959 Percentage 48.46% 22.49% 22.67%
Government before election de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic Elected Government de Smet de Naeyer II Catholic

Kingdom of Belgium
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Belgium
Constitution Taxation Constitutional Court
Monarchy Monarch (list) Philippe Duchess of Brabant Elisabeth of Belgium Crown Council Royal Family
Federal Parliament Senate President: Sabine Laruelle Chamber of Representatives President: Patrick Dewael
Federal Cabinet De Croo Government Prime Minister: Alexander De Croo
Judiciary Administrative jurisdictions Council of State Highest court Court of Cassation Appellate courts Court of appeal Court of labour Trial courts Court of assizes Tribunal of first instance Civil tribunal Correctional tribunal Family and juvenile tribunal Sentence enforcement tribunal Labour tribunal Enterprise tribunal Minor crimes Minor claims Police tribunal Justice of the peace
Recent elections European 2004 2009 2014 2019 Federal 2007 2010 2014 2019 Regional 2004 2009 2014 2019 Local 2000 2006 2012 2018 Political parties
Subdivisions Communities and regions Provinces Arrondissements Municipalities
Foreign relations France-Belgium relations Belgium-Germany relations Belgium-United Kingdom relations Belgium-Netherlands relations Belgium–Luxembourg relations Politics of the European Union
Belgium portal Other countries

They were the first elections under a proportional system (using the D'Hondt method) instead of a majority system. This was an innovation in Europe, as Belgium became the first country to adopt proportional representation as basis of its electoral system. To make the system possible, smaller electoral districts (arrondissements) were grouped into a single electoral district (a group of arrondissements). The introduction of proportional representation was beneficial to the Liberal Party, which significantly increased its number of seats. The Liberal Party previously suffered losses after the introduction of universal suffrage in 1894.

The Catholic Party thus lost seats but retained its absolute majority, with 86 of the 152 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 44 of the 76 seats in the Senate.[2]