1985 Belgian general election

General elections were held in Belgium on 13 October 1985. The Christian People's Party emerged as the largest party, with 49 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives and 25 of the 106 seats in the Senate. Elections to the nine provincial councils were also held.

1985 Belgian general election

13 October 1985
212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives
First party Second party Third party   Leader Wilfried Martens Guy Spitaels Karel Van Miert Party CVP PS SP Leader since Candidate for PM 1981 1978 Last election 43 seats, 19.34% 35 seats, 12.17% 26 seats, 12.36% Seats won 49 35 32 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 1,291,244 834,488 882,200 Percentage 21.29% 13.76% 14.55% Swing 1.95% 1.59% 2.19%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Louis Michel Guy Verhofstadt Gérard Deprez Party PRL PVV PSC Leader since 1982 1982 1981 Last election 24 seats, 7.97% 28 seats, 12.89% 18 seats, 6.49% Seats won 24 22 20 Seat change 6 2 Popular vote 619,390 651,806 482,254 Percentage 10.21% 10.75% 7.95% Swing 2.24% 2.14% 1.50%
Colours denote the winning party in each electoral district (for the Chamber of Deputies).
Government before election Martens V CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL Elected Government Martens VI CVP-PSC-PVV-PRL

Prime Minister Martens

The incumbent government was a coalition of Christian democrats (CVP/PSC) and liberals (PVV/PRL) led by Prime Minister Wilfried Martens. Following the elections, the same parties formed a new Martens Government. Guy Verhofstadt, PVV leader since 1982, was elected for the first time as representative. Despite PVV being the only governing party to lose seats, he was able to weigh on the government agreement and he became Deputy Prime Minister in the Martens VI Government. The government would fall two years later due to the Voeren issue; distrust of labour unions in Verhofstadt proved to be a factor as well.